Gregor Mendel
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Gregor Mendel, A monk
in an Austrian monastery conducted experiments on pea plants in the 1860's.
Mendel was a person who was curious about how traits were passed down from
one generation of pea plant to other generations of pea plants Mendel used a
mathematical approach to discovering this mystery, as he was trained in
mathematics and science. Mendel used a quantitative approach in
conducting his research. He relied on data from counting and measuring
to give him the data he needed to conclude that: 1. Traits were seen because of "factors" that coded for a trait. 2. Each parent had 2 "factors" for each trait expressed. 3. Each parent gave one "factor" for each trait to the offspring giving the offspring 2 factors. 4. Alternate forms of factors are called alleles The thing that Mendel did not know about, and nobody did conclusively until DNA was discovered in the 1950's, that the traits were coded by segments of DNA called Genes. Each chromosome has many genes on them. Some have more than others Why Study Peas? |