Question

1. What did Gregor Mendel contribute to genetics? What plant did he use in his experiments and give several reasons why he chose it?

2. Give the definitions of the following terms.

a. Monohybrid cross:

b. Dihybrid cross:

c. Punnett Square analysis:

d. Law of Dominance:

e. Law of Segregation:

f. Law of Independent Assortment:

3. What do the following terms mean in relationship to gene combination?

a. homozygous dominant

b. homozygous recessive

c. heterozygous dominant

d. genotype

e. phenotype

f. allele

4. Non- Mendelian terms- give the definition for each

a. Incomplete Dominance (Blending Inheritance)

b. Codominance

c. Multiple Alleles

d. Pleiotropy

e. Epistasis

f. Polygenic Inheritance

g. Multifactorial (Modifier) Inheritance

5. What is a karyotype analysis? What is the reason for this procedure to be done?

6. What does a pedigree chart show in relationship to the genetic make up of a family with a certain condition?

Answer 1

1) using his experiments Mendel formulated three laws of inheritance.

Law of dominance: in a heterozygous individual one allele is expressed and another allele is not expressed, the allele which is expressed is the dominant allele.

Law of segregation: alleles segregate during gamete formation so that each gamete gets one allele.

Law of independent assortment: alleles of two or more genes assort independently of each other.

He used the plant Pisum sativum. This plant is used in research because the plant has a short life span, it produces a large number of seeds, it can be cultivated easily, these plants naturally self fertilize so it is easy to generate true-breeding lines.