Mendelian Genetics

Section 1: Mendelian Genetics

• Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and scientist, is considered the "father of genetics."
• Mendel was a scientist who studied genetics and heredity.
• He primarily grew peas for his experiments.
• Self-fertilization occurs when a flower transfers pollen from its anther to its own stigma.
• Cross-pollination happens when pollen comes from the anther of a different flower.
• The male part of a flower is called the stamen, containing the anther (where pollen is produced) and the filament.
• The female part of a flower is the pistil, which includes the stigma, style, and ovary.
• Inheritance is the process of passing genetic information from parents to offspring through DNA.
• Organisms inherit genetic information, specifically DNA, which codes for traits and characteristics, from their biological parents.
• Alleles are different versions of a gene, potentially causing trait variations.
• A single gene can have multiple alleles, but an organism generally inherits two alleles for each gene.
• An organism's genotype is its specific combination of alleles for a particular gene.
• An organism's phenotype is the observable physical characteristic resulting from its genotype.
• The genotype determines the potential for a trait to be expressed; the phenotype is the actual expression of that trait.
• Mendel studied seven different traits in his plants.
• These traits were: seed shape, seed color, flower color, pod shape, pod color, plant height, and flower position.
• A dominant allele only requires one copy for its trait to be expressed.
• For a recessive allele to show, both gene copies must be recessive.
• Capital letters represent dominant alleles.
• Lowercase letters represent recessive alleles.
• "Heterozygous" describes an organism with two different alleles for a specific gene.
• "Homozygous" means having two identical alleles.
• The F1 generation is the first set of offspring from the P generation.
• The F2 generation results from self-fertilizing the F1 generation plants.
• When a genotype is heterozygous, the dominant allele is expressed in the phenotype.
• In a heterozygous genotype, the recessive allele gets masked, meaning expression is not visible in the organism's traits.
• The Law of Segregation states that allele pairs separate during meiosis so that only one allele is present in each gamete.
• The Law of Independent Assortment means that alleles of different genes sort into gametes independently of one another.
• A Punnett Square shows all possible gene combinations in offspring from two parents.

Sections 2-3

• Genetic recombination is the exchange of DNA segments between chromosomes, creating new allele combinations and fostering genetic diversity.
• Chromosome maps are created using crossing-over data.
• Chromosome maps show how genes are arranged on a chromosome.
• Polyploidy is when an organism has more than two sets of chromosomes in its cells, which means it has extra copies of each chromosome.
• Polyploidy in fruits, vegetables, and flowers can lead to changes like larger fruit size or increased flower production.
• Polyploidy helps feed more people by increasing the size and amount of food.
• Selective breeding is breeding animals for specific traits.
• Humans selectively breed crops and domestic animals to obtain organisms with certain desirable traits.
• Dogs and corn are examples of plants and animals that humans selectively bred.
• Hybridization results from crossing parents.
• With hybridization organisms with different forms of a trait produce offspring with specific traits.
• Inbreeding is he process in which two closely related organisms are bred to have the desired traits.
• A negative consequence of inbreeding is that it increases the chance of getting diseases.
• Breeders inbreed animals to concentrate specific desirable traits by increasing the chances of offspring inheriting similar genes.
• Crossing over increases genetic variation by exchanging genetic material between chromosomes.
• Genes located close together on the same chromosome are said to be linked.
• Creating a hybrid potato helped create crops that could survive the Irish Potato Famine disease.
• Hybrids are used to breed stronger, and healthier crops and animals.
• A test cross is performed To make sure it will work
• When performing a test cross, individual specimens of unknown genotype get crossed with a known organism.
• With the diagram in the document, allele 'y' is linked with allele ‘w'
• With the diagram in the document, allele ‘m' is linked with allele ‘v'’
• With the diagram in the document, ‘y' allele is more likely to be separated from allele 'r'.