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- What cells are made up of
- WHO?
- Why we have cells
- Scientific Method
- The 4 macromolecules
- The different types of cells
- Cellular respiration & Photosynthethis
- Plant cells VS. Animal cells
- How are cells made?
- Tools to help you find cells
- Organ Systems
- Classisication
- Protists and Fungi
- Bacteria & viruses
- Mendal
- Genetics
- Meiosis, Mitosis
- Punnet Squares
- Bones
- Ecology
- Symbiotic Relationships
- Periodic Table of Elements
- Land biomes
- Evolution
HEREDITY AND MENDEL
Heredity is the passing of genetic traits from parent to offspring. Heredity is more complicated than you might think. For example, you might have blonde hair, while both of your parents have black hair. You might have blue eyes while both parents have green eyes. Why this happens used to be a mystery to scientists all over the world. Then Gregor Mendel performed important experimental research and his discoveries helped unlock many of the mysteries of heredity and genetics.
WHO WAS MENDEL?
Mendel grew up on a farm and knew much about flowers and fruit trees. Throughout his life, he was very well educated and learned alot about genetics. He discovered the principals of heredity in the Monastery Garden which is where he attended school. From his research with plants, Mendel discovered that the patterns of heredity were not always clear. For example, sometimes a trait that appears (phenotype) in one generation (parents) was not present in the next generation (offspring). A similar patten will go on in generations to come. And Mendel wanted to understand more about why this happened and why these patterns occurred. He decided to only study one kind of organism and to keep it simple, he used pea plants.
SELF POLLINATING PEAS
A self pollinating plant has both male and female reproductive structures. This is important because eggs and sperm from the same plant combine to make a new plant. Mendel was able to grow true breeding plants. When a true breeding plant self pollinates, all of it's offspring will have the same phenotype as it's parent. Pea plants can also cross pollinate. In a cross-pollination, pollen from one plant fertilizes the ovule of a flower on a different plant. Self pollination is also a way of passing on traits, but in a more controlled way.
IMPORTANT TERMS
Dominant Trait: The trait observed in the first generation when parents that have different traits are bred.
Recessive Trait: A trait that reappears in the 2nd generation after disappearing in the 1st generation when parent's of different traits breed.
Probability: The likelihood that a possible future event will occur in any given instance of the event.
Gene: One set of instructions for an inherited trait
Allele: One of the alternative forms of a gene that governs a characteristic, such as hair color.
Recessive Trait: A trait that reappears in the 2nd generation after disappearing in the 1st generation when parent's of different traits breed.
Probability: The likelihood that a possible future event will occur in any given instance of the event.
Gene: One set of instructions for an inherited trait
Allele: One of the alternative forms of a gene that governs a characteristic, such as hair color.