Gregor Johann Mendel – Laws of Inheritance
People have always wondered how traits or characters are transmitted from parents to their offspring. It was only after the pioneering work of Gregor Mendel in the year 1865, people realized that individual traits are determined by discrete “factors,” later known as genes, which are inherited from the parents.
The famous laws of inheritance were derived by Gregor Mendel,while conducting hybridization experiments in garden peas (Pisum sativum). Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows some particular laws. However the importance of his work was recognized till his death. These facts were “re-discovered” in 1900 (Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns) and subsequently further studies related to presence of genes on chromosomes done by (chromosome theory of inheritance) by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1915 proved beyond doubt the laws of Mendel.These landmark discoveries by Mendel and Morgan went on to become the crux of classical genetics and laid foundation for the modern science of genetics.
Mendel determined that an organism inherits two copies of the genetic material that determines an individual’s physical traits, one copy coming from each the male and female parent. Mendel also observed that for each trait, sometimes what is inherited from one parent masks what is inherited from the other. He called the hidden trait recessive and the expressed trait dominant.
Law of Segregation (The “First Law”)
The Law of Segregation states that when any individual produces gametes, the copies of a gene separate so that each gamete receives only one copy. A gamete will receive one allele or the other.
Law of Independent Assortment (The “Second Law”)
The Law of Independent Assortment, also known as “Inheritance Law” states that alleles of different genes assort independently of one another during gamete formation.
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