Mendelian Genetics 10

 Early Theories of Inheritance 

• Mendel focused on two laws 

  • Principal of segregation: explains that each parent contributes one of two possible alleles (versions of a gene) for a trait to their child. 

    • Separated during meiosis 

  • Law of independent assortment: the inheritance of one trait does not affect the inheritance of another trait. Ex. Color vs texture 

    • Traits inherited separately and are randomly assorted during meiosis

• New life begins with chromosomes 

• Chromosomes: found within the nucleus of cells that carry our genetic information in the form of DNA and proteins, and they help ensure that DNA is accurately copied during cell division

  • Chromosomes are passed from parent to offspring called heredity 

• Through highly controlled breeding programs, we could improve desirable traits in offspring and even control for the expression of certain traits over generations