Mendel’s laws (of genetic inheritance)

この記事の概要

Mendel's laws, which reveal how heredity works, were discovered by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel. Through his experiments on peas, he discovered the regularities of heredity, thus laying the foundation for the study of genetics. Mendel's laws include three main ones: the law of dominance, the law of segregation, and the law of independence.

Posted on 2024年 11月 6日
  1. The Law of Dominance
    In Mendel’s experiment, contrasting traits such as “round” and “wrinkled” peas were combined. In this case, the round shape was considered “dominant” and the wrinkled shape “recessive,” indicating that the dominant trait was more likely to be expressed in the offspring. This law of dominance indicates that dominant traits are more likely to be expressed when the offspring receive different traits from their parents.
  2. The Law of Segregation
    Mendel showed that two genes of a parent can be transmitted to the offspring in isolation. For example, if a pea with a gene for “round” and a gene for “wrinkled” leaves offspring, the genes for the round and wrinkled traits will separate and the offspring will inherit one or the other. This law determines which gene the offspring will inherit probabilistically.
  3. Law of Independence
    This law states that different traits are inherited independently. For example, it has been shown that different traits such as “pea color” and “shape” are passed on to offspring independently of each other, and that specific combinations are not passed on as a set from parent to child. This law is established when the genes are on different chromosomes.
Checking the box on the list

Mendel’s laws were a groundbreaking discovery at the time and had a major impact on later developments in genetics and molecular biology. These laws laid the foundation for predicting how inherited diseases and traits are transmitted from one generation to the next and are used as an important theory in modern medicine and gene therapy.