Gregor Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants to discover the laws of heredity and genetics. He found that each organism has two alleles for each trait, with one allele being dominant and observable in offspring while the recessive allele disappears. The alleles separate during gamete formation so each parent passes only one allele to each offspring randomly and independently for different traits. This helped explain how traits are inherited from parents to offspring.

1. Mendel’s Laws of Heredity Why we look the way we look...

2. What is heredity ? The passing on of characteristics (traits) from parents to offspring Genetics is the study of heredity

3. Mendel used peas... They reproduce sexually They have two distinct, male and female , sex cells called gametes Their traits are easy to isolate

4. Mendel crossed them Fertilization - the uniting of male and female gametes Cross - combining gametes from parents with different traits

5. Questions What did Mendel cross? What are traits ? What are gametes ? What is fertilization ? What is heredity ? What is genetics ?

6. What Did Mendel Find? He discovered different laws and rules that explain factors affecting heredity .

7. Rule of Unit Factors Each organism has two alleles for each trait Alleles - different forms of the same gene Genes - located on chromosomes, they control how an organism develops

8. Rule of Dominance The trait that is observed in the offspring is the dominant trait (uppercase) The trait that disappears in the offspring is the recessive trait (lowercase)

9. Law of Segregation The two alleles for a trait must separate when gametes are formed A parent randomly passes only one allele for each trait to each offspring

10. Law of Independent Assortment The genes for different traits are inherited independently of each other.

11. Questions... How many alleles are there for each trait? What is an allele ? How many alleles does a parent pass on to each offspring for each trait

12. Questions... What do we call the trait that is observed ? What case (upper or lower) is it written in? What about the one that disappears ? What case is it written in?

13. Phenotype & Genotype Phenotype - the way an organism looks red hair or brown hair genotype - the gene combination of an organism AA or Aa or aa

14. Heterozygous & Homozygous Heterozygous - if the two alleles for a trait are different ( Aa ) Homozygous - if the two alleles for a trait are the same ( AA or aa )

15. Dihybrid vs Monohybrid Dihybrid Cross - crossing parents who differ in two traits ( AAEE with aaee ) Monohybrid Cross - crossing parents who differ in only one trait ( AA with aa )

16. Questions... What is the phenotype ? What is the genotype ? What is homozygous ? What is heterozygous ? What is monohybrid crossing ?