Gregor Mendel kicked off his experiments with pea plants by breeding pure strains and keeping them apart. This method allowed him to track traits of each strain separately.
He noticed that when two purebred varieties cross-breed, their offspring tend to look more like one or the other parent rather than a blend of traits. Some traits are dominant and always manifest themselves in a first generation cross, while others are recessive and never manifest.
Pea plants are easy to grow
Gregor Mendel chose pea plants for his experiments due to their ease of cultivation and self-pollinating nature, which allowed him to study traits between generations with minimal time and effort invested.
He chose to study these plants because they displayed many contrasting traits, making it simpler for him to observe patterns. For instance, if he wanted to investigate color blending, he could cross purple-flowering plants with white-flowering ones and compare their offspring from the first generation (F1 generation) with those from the second (F2 generation).
Mendel found these comparisons essential, as they demonstrated that his offspring weren’t simply mixing traits but actually possessing different ones. While he expected their height to be greater than their parent plant, Mendel noted that plants with short leaves and tall ones weren’t identical – something was clearly amiss. Therefore, it became evident to Mendel that something different was taking place.
Mendel was an expert gardener and breeder. As a monk at St Thomas’ Abbey near Brunn – now Brno in the Czech Republic – where he lived with his family, Mendel had plenty of opportunity to garden.
At the start of his research, Mendel was uncertain which type of inheritance could best explain how traits were passed from parent to offspring. He heard some people talking about using the blending theory, which states that offspring possess characteristics from both their parents. While this seemed reasonable enough, Mendel still had many questions.
So he decided to explore a different type of inheritance. To do this, he conducted experiments with pea plants and studied nearly 30,000 samples over several years.
He discovered two principles of inheritance in pea plants. The first principle, segregation, dictated that when two traits combine, more dominant trait would prevail than recessive trait.
They reproduce quickly
To study inheritance, Gregor Mendel used purebred plants. This ensured the traits were passed down consistently and allowed him to control the reproduction process. Growing peas in his home monastery gardens enabled him to observe how different traits were passed on through generations.
After studying thousands of peas, Mendel identified dominant and recessive traits. Dominant traits remained constant within offspring from a cross, while recessive traits either disappeared or reappeared.
Mendel also noted that factors controlling different traits were inherited independently of one another, leading him to formulate his second law: the law of independent assortment.
He hoped that by understanding the processes controlling traits, he could explain how plants reproduce and why certain qualities are more often passed down than others.
Mendel began his research by selecting 22 varieties of peas and cultivating them himself. These plants were hermaphrodite (having both male and female reproductive organs), allowing them to self-pollinate without external assistance.
Left alone, pea flowers produce both male and female gametes – these combine with pollen grains to form seeds – the next generation of plants.
Pollen grains are transferred from one flower’s anther to its stigma, then onto an egg in the female plant’s ovary. After fertilization has taken place, this seed sprouts into a new plant.
Mendel meticulously recorded the number of offspring produced when he crossed two pea lines. For instance, when he crossed a purple flowering pea with a white one, all offspring had violet flowers.
Mendel discovered that when he crossed a short pea with a tall pea, all of the offspring were tall. In his first generation of crosses, Mendel observed 787 tall plants and 277 short ones.
This provided him with the perfect starting point for his experiment. Utilizing his understanding of probability, he used each cross’ results to analyze them and determine which characteristics were dominant and recessive. From there, he constructed a mathematical model explaining how these traits were inherited.
They are easy to pollinate
Mendel chose to use purebred plants in his experiments because they produce offspring that can be observed from generation to generation. Garden pea plants, which mature within one season and naturally self-pollinating (meaning pollen grains from one flower fertilize the stigma of another), so to prevent this from occurring Mendel removed all immature anthers from his pea flowers.
Mendel then crossed these purebred plants together and recorded the characteristics of their hybrid progeny. Surprisingly, all of the hybrids looked exactly like one of the parent plants! This surprised Mendel since he had expected mixed plants would produce offspring with traits that obscured each other.
Mendel bred violet-flowered plants with white flowers to discover that some of the F1 hybrids had purple blooms while others featured white ones.
He allowed the hybrids to self-pollinate, producing offspring with hidden traits – this is known as independent assortment.
This is significant as it demonstrates how different traits, like plant height or flower color, can be inherited independently of each other. Furthermore, it explains why certain traits may be dominant or recessive.
Mendel tested this hypothesis by crossing two opposing trait variants for each characteristic. He then ensured that each type bred true, so the offspring always displayed the same traits as their parents.
He then examined the offspring from these crosses to identify which characteristics were present. He recorded how many individuals of each type were present in each generation and counted how many had each characteristic.
Mendel’s records provided him with an insight into genetics and how traits could be hidden or influenced by one another. This allowed him to predict the outcomes of other crosses he conducted, as well as gain knowledge about inheritance and how traits are passed down from generation to generation.
They are easy to study
In the 19th century, when Gregor Mendel first began studying inheritance, scientists still did not fully comprehend how genes could be passed down through generations. To test his hypothesis, Mendel chose a model organism such as the pea plant because it was easy to grow and had a short generation time.
He also sought to determine whether a trait was dominant or recessive in plants. To do this, he crossed two purebred plants with different traits and observed which trait emerged as the result of the cross.
He might cross a tall plant with a short one to see which traits were dominant and recessive. If the result was tall, that was considered to be a dominant trait; on the other hand, if it produced something shorter, that was considered recessive.
Mendel meticulously recorded all results of his crosses, enabling him to study the traits that were being passed down from generation to generation and how many offspring had each trait.
Mendel, with his background in mathematics, used probability to interpret his results. Additionally, he recorded his findings in a book that would become famous as the Mendel Bible.
Mendel was meticulous in his experiments, cutting off anthers to prevent pollen escaping from plants and using bags to prevent self-pollination – so seeds wouldn’t contain genetic information from their own plants. This ensured his plants’ seeds remained pure and uncontaminated by external influences.
He recorded the height, flower color, pod color, seed shape and other traits for each generation. Furthermore, he counted how many plants had each trait in each generation.
Mendel’s experiments led him to the discovery that certain traits could only be inherited in one way. For instance, round seeds had more dominant genes than wrinkled seeds.
Mendel’s discovery spurred him to develop a theory about gene transmission through generations and its influence on traits – becoming the basis for modern genetics.
