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How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits are inherited independently ?

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HARITHA,SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT at Edumarz


Solution:Gregor Mendel,the father of genetics,carried out genetic experiments in pea plants and proposed laws of inheritance.Mendel carried out dihybrid crosses in pea plants and identified that traits are inherited independently in a population.According to Mendel’s second law of inheritance,the law of independent assortment,during inheritance,different alleles of genes segregate independently during the formation of gametes, and this results in the occurrence of an equal chance for different characters.


Dihybrid cross 

In a dihybrid cross conducted by Mendel, two characteristics of pea plants were selected. From this cross, he also identified that traits are inherited independently and that in second filial generation (F2) plants they appear in a dihybrid ratio of 9:3:3:1.


Benefits of using pea plants in experiments

  • Presence of bisexual flowers(Both female and male flowers are present)

  • Presence of self pollinating flowers

  • Easy to grow in laboratories

  • shows a short life cycle.

  • Presence of seven pairs of contrasting characters

 Seven pairs of contrasting characters present in pea plant

  • Size of plant(Tall/Dwarf)

  • Colour of pod(Green/Yellow)

  • Size of flower(Purple/White)

  • Shape of pea(Round/Wrinkled)

  • Flower position(Axial/Terminal)

  • Colour of pea(Green/Yellow)

  • Shape of pod(Constricted/Inflated)

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