3.5 Describe how Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment can be observed through patterns of inheritance (e.g., dihybrid crosses).
Vocabulary
Tier 3
Genetics - the study of obtaining characteristics/traits/genes
Inheritance - acquiring traits from parents
Trait - a characteristic
Alleles - pieces of information being inherited, one from the mom, one from the dad, together they make the gene.
Essential Questions
1. What does the Law of Segregation mean?
2. What does the Law of Independent Assortment mean?
Genetics Laws
Before anyone knew about genes, Mendel was understanding how genetics works using pea plants. He came up with 3 laws.
* The Law of Segregation - says that a gene passes on only 1 allele to the offspring
If there are three genes: Bb TT ff, a parent may pass on only 1 of each, for example --> bTf
* The Law of Independent Assortment - says that no other genes affect how one gene is passed on
* The Law of Dominance - says that one allele can be dominant and the other recessive. Dominant alleles are more common.