It is said that Mendel proposed that the factor controlling any charac...
Mendel proposed that the factor Controlling any character is discrete and independent. His proposition was based on the observations that the offspring of a cross made between the plants having two contrasting characters shows only one character without any blending.
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It is said that Mendel proposed that the factor controlling any charac...
Observation of Contrasting Characters in Offspring
Mendel's proposal that the factor controlling any character is discrete and independent was based on his observation that the offspring of a cross made between plants having two contrasting characters shows only one character without any intermediate state. This observation led him to formulate the principle of dominance and recessiveness.
Principle of Dominance and Recessiveness
Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants and focused on traits that exhibited clear-cut differences. For example, he studied the flower color trait, which could be either purple or white. When he crossed a purple-flowered plant with a white-flowered plant, he found that the offspring always had purple flowers. This led him to conclude that purple color is dominant over white color.
Mendel also performed similar experiments with other traits such as seed color, seed shape, and plant height. In each case, he observed that one of the traits appeared in the F1 generation while the other trait seemed to disappear. However, when he allowed the F1 plants to self-pollinate and produce the F2 generation, he found that the trait that had disappeared in the F1 generation reappeared in a ratio of 3:1 in the F2 generation.
Law of Segregation
Based on these observations, Mendel proposed the law of segregation, which states that during the formation of gametes, the paired factors (now known as alleles) responsible for traits separate or segregate from each other, so that each gamete receives only one of the two alleles. This means that when an organism produces gametes, the alleles for each trait separate and only one allele is passed on to each gamete.
When the gametes combine during fertilization, each offspring inherits two alleles - one from each parent. If the two alleles are the same, the individual is said to be homozygous for that trait. If the alleles are different, the individual is said to be heterozygous for that trait.
Conclusion
Mendel's proposal that the factor controlling any character is discrete and independent was based on his observation that the offspring of a cross made between plants having two contrasting characters shows only one character without any intermediate state. This observation, along with his further experiments and observations, led him to formulate the principles of dominance and recessiveness, as well as the law of segregation. These principles laid the foundation for Mendelian genetics and our understanding of inheritance.
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