MENDELIAN
GENETICS
Gregor Johann Mendel
Gregor Mendel is an
Austrian monk. In a monastery,
he spent his time in
investigating how individual
traits were inherited.
Gregor Johann Mendel
Gregor Mendel used the garden peas
(Pisum sativum) in his experiments because
they possessed several distinct traits that
could be easily observed and controlled.
Additionally, Gregor Mendel used the
garden peas because it has several traits to
be studied, easy to grow, reproduce through
self-pollination.
Through his research on garden
peas, a new branch of science was
formed, it is called Genetics. Gregor
Mendel then paved the way for the
study of Genetics.
QUESTIONS:
1. Who is Gregor Johann Mendel?
2. Why did Gregor Mendel choose garden
peas for his experiments on inheritance?
3. What unique characteristics of garden peas
made them ideal for Mendel's research?
4. What major scientific field did Mendel's
work ultimately lead to the founding of?
What is Genetics?
Genetics is the study of heredity
and the factors that affect the
transmission of genes to determine
inherited characters from one
generation to the next.
What is Heredity?
Heredity refers to the transfer
of traits genes from parents to
offspring.
7 traits of Garden Peas that Gregor
Mendel studied
SEED
FORM
SEED FORM
Round Wrinkled
SEED
COLOR
SEED COLOR
Yellow Green
POD
FORM
POD FORM
Inflated Constricted
POD
COLOR
POD COLOR
Green Yellow
FLOWER
POSITION
FLOWER POSITIONS
Axial Flower – Along stem
Terminal Flower – On top
SEED
COAT
COLOR
SEED COAT COLOR
Grey or Grey White
- Brown
STEM
LENGTH
STEM LENGTH
Tall Short
In his experiment, he
began cross-pollinating peas
with contrasting traits.
Cross first
parental (P1)
generation
FIRST FILIAL (F1)
GENERATION
FIRST FILIAL (F1)
GENERATION
HYBRID
MONOHYBRID CROSS
A monohybrid cross is a cross between
two organisms with different variations at
one genetic locus of interest. The character
being studied in a monohybrid cross are
governed by two or multiple variations for a
single location of a gene
MONOHYBRID CROSS
For example, when the
pure-breed round seed was
crossed-pollinated with
pure-breed wrinkled seed,
all the offspring produced
were all round seeds. A cross
using one trait is referred as
monohybrid cross
Crossing the Hybrid Plants
After cross-breeding the pure-breed peas, Gregor
Mendel was determined to know what happened with
the other lost traits. Gregor Mendel crossed the peas
from F1 generation (hybrid) with each other and
produced another type of offspring called the second
filial generation F2. There were two types of offspring
produced in the F2 generation, ¾ were round seeds and
¼ were wrinkled seeds.
In the F2 generation, Mendel counted 5,474
round seeds and 1,850 wrinkled seeds. The round
seeds were about three times as many as the
wrinkled seeds. The ratio of round seeds to
wrinkled seeds was 2.96:1 or nearly 3:1.
Moreover, in the F1 generation the wrinkled seed
type did not appear but reappeared in the one-
fourth of the F2 generation.
He then concluded that the F1 generation
received the capabilities to produce both
phenotypes from their parents which are retained
and passed on to their future offspring. The
produced ratios suggest the probability of
occurrence of the genotype and phenotype in a
generation rather than the ability to generate few
offspring.
MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
OF HEREDITY
MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES OF
HEREDITY
Gregor Mendel’s results of his experiment
made him hypothesize that there was a factor in
the plants which controlled the appearance of a
trait which he called hereditary “factors”. He also
hypothesized that traits were regulated by a pair of
“factors” now called alleles. With these findings,
Gregor Mendel was able to formulate the three
principles of heredity.
1. THE LAW OF
DOMINANCE
1. THE LAW OF DOMINANCE
The Law of Dominance states that in every
organism, there is a pair of factors or genes which
control the appearance of a particular trait. One of the
pair of genes/alleles may hide or prevent the appearance
of the other. One allele is a dominant trait, while the
other is a recessive trait. The dominant traits hide or
mask the appearance of the recessive trait. The dominant
trait is represented by a big letter and a small letter for
the recessive trait.
DOMINANT & RECESSIVE
R
Y
DOMINANT P
It is an allele, a I
gene, or a trait that G
is expressed and A
represented by a
Capital Letter.
L
r
y
RECESSIVE p
It is a Gene whose i
effects are masked in g
the presence of a
dominant gene and a
represented by a small
letter. l
Note that in a particular trait, the same
letter will be used for both the dominant
and recessive traits. Since genes are in
pairs, the pure breeding green pod colored
peas will be represented with letters GG
and the pure breeding yellow pod colored
peas gg.
HOMOZYGOUS OR
HOMOZYGOTE
- Pairs of alleles which are identical
Example:
RR – Homozygous (Dominant) genes for round seed.
rr – Homozygous (Recessive) genes for wrinkled seed.
HETEROZYGOUS OR
HETEROZYGOTE.
- Pairs of alleles which are NOT
identical
Example:
Rr –Heterozygous genes for round seed.
GENOTYPE &
PHENOTYPE
The pair of genes or alleles is the
genetic makeup for a particular trait
of an organism called genotype while
the phenotype is the observable trait
or the visible trait of an organism.
GENOTYPE & PHENOTYPE
GENOTYPE & PHENOTYPE
2. THE LAW OF
SEGREGATION
2. THE LAW OF SEGREGATION
The Law of Segregation states that all pairs of
genes for all the traits of an organism segregate or
separate from each other during meiosis or
gametes (sex cells) formation. Gregor Mendel
argued that for any trait, an organism must inherit
one factor from the sperm and one factor from the
egg. Thus, a new organism receives one factor for
each trait from each parent.
Figure 5. Round and wrinkled seeds during
gamete formation.
Figure 6. The
gametes produced
by a pure round
seed, pure wrinkled
seed and hybrid
round seed pea
plants.
Figure 7. The result of crossing pure-breeding
round and wrinkled seed.
3. THE LAW OF
INDEPENDENT
ASSORTMENT
3. THE LAW OF INDEPENDENT
ASSORTMENT
The Law of Independent Assortment states
that the distribution or assortment of one pair
of genes is independent of the distribution of
the other pair. Traits are inherited independent
of each other. The law applies to genes that are
found on separate chromosomes. Thus, one
pair of genes is not affected by the other pair.
DIHYBRID CROSS
DIHYBRID CROSS
Aside from Gregor Mendel’s study on
inheritance of one pair of genes or alleles, he
also studied the inheritance of two pairs of
genes or alleles. A cross that involves two
pairs of genes or alleles is called dihybrid
cross. An easy way to do the dihybrid cross is
through the use of Punnett square.
PUNNETT SQUARE
PUNNETT SQUARE
Reginald C. Punnett is the one who
devised the Punnett square. This is a simple
way to determine the possible combinations
of genes in a given cross. It can help you
predict easily the outcome of a given cross.
How to make a Punnett Square?
1. Make a square and divide into 4 boxes for
monohybrid cross and 16 boxes for dihybrid
cross.
2. The letters of the possible genes for a trait from
the female (♀) are written down on the left side.
3. The letters of the possible genes for the same
trait from the male (♂) are written across the top
of the square.
4. Start crossing the male gametes with the female gametes
in each box until all the four boxes are filled in. Place the
phenotype below each genotype.
5. Lastly, interpret the result. Result of the sample illustration:
• There are 4 offspring produced from crossing both hybrid
axial flowers: Aa X Aa.
• Their genotypes are:
1 AA - homozygous axial flower
2 Aa - heterozygous axial flowers
1 aa - homozygous terminal flower
• The genotypic ratio: [Link]
• Their phenotypes are:
3 - axial flowers
1 - terminal flower
• The phenotypic ratio: 3:1
Example 1: Dihybrid Cross using the Punnett
Square:
