AGB 121: Principles of Animal Genetics and Population Genetics (2+1)

MENDEL'S EXPLANATIONS AND PREDICTIONS

• Mendel made some important conclusions based on his experimental results.
  • Mendel called the determining agent responsible for each character or trait as "units" or "factors" that are passed on to offspring unchanged (these units are now called genes ).
  • An individual inherits one such unit from each parent for each trait. Factors thus occur in pairs ( Diploid ) in an individual.
  • Each parent passed only one factor of a pair to their offspring.
  • A trait may not show up in an individual but can still be passed on to the next generation and reappear.
  • Further, he predicted that each factor retained its individuality from generation to generation and it was not modified in the hybrid.
• Mendel's conclusive theoretical and statistical explanations for his hybridization experiments can be summarized in two principles,
  • The Principle of Segregation
  • The Principle of Independent Assortment