Mendel's AI: Pea Plant Experiment Quiz and Flashcards

What is the ratio of purple flowers to white flowers in the F2 generation?

What term describes the reappearance of a trait in the F2 generation after being absent in the F1 generation?

What is the relationship between purple and white flower color alleles in pea plants?

According to Mendel's law of segregation, what happens to alleles during gamete production?

What happens if an organism has two identical alleles for a particular gene?

What is one of the advantages of using pea plants for genetic study?

What is the significance of the P (parental) generation in Mendel's experiments?

How many possible combinations of sperm and ovum are produced during self-pollination of F1 hybrids with two different alleles for flower color?

What did Mendel primarily analyze in the F2 generation to reveal fundamental principles of heredity?

Why did Mendel conduct controlled matings of his pea plants?

What law of heredity was revealed by Mendel's quantitative analysis of F2 plants?

What is a common method Mendel used to produce the F1 generation in his experiments?

Mendel's Experiments on Inheritance

F1 hybrids, resulting from crossing purple-flowered and white-flowered pea plants, all have purple flowers, indicating that purple flower color is a dominant trait and white flower color is a recessive trait.

Reappearance of White-Flowered Plants

In the F2 generation, both purple-flowered and white-flowered plants appear, with a ratio of 3:1 (three purple-flowered to one white-flowered).
The reappearance of white-flowered plants in the F2 generation indicates that the heritable factor for white flowers was present in the F1 plants but did not affect flower color.

Alleles and Genes

The gene for flower color in pea plants exists in two versions, one for purple flowers and one for white flowers, known as alleles.
Mendel's law of segregation states that the two alleles for a heritable character segregate during gamete production and end up in different gametes.

Genetic Crosses and Punnett Squares

A Punnett square can be used to predict the results of a genetic cross between individuals of known genotype.
In the flower-color example, P represents the purple-flower allele, and p represents the white-flower allele.

F2 Generation and Probability

During self-pollination of F1 hybrids, the gametes unite randomly to produce four equally likely combinations of sperm and ovum.
One in four F2 offspring will inherit two white-flower alleles and produce white flowers.

Mendel's Experimental Approach

Pea plants have advantages for genetic study, including variations with distinct heritable features, short generation time, and the ability to control matings.
Mendel started with true-breeding plants, which self-pollinate to produce offspring with the same traits as their parents.
He cross-pollinated (hybridized) two contrasting, true-breeding pea varieties to produce F1 hybrids, which were then allowed to self-pollinate to produce an F2 generation.

Laws of Heredity

Mendel's quantitative analysis of F2 plants revealed two fundamental principles of heredity: the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment.

Explore how Mendel used pea plants for genetic studies, taking advantage of their distinct heritable features and short generation time. Discover how Mendel was able to strictly control the matings of his pea plants, leading to groundbreaking discoveries in genetics.