in carrying out his breeding studies, mendel determined patterns of inheritance by examining characters that had which of the following properties?
In Mendel’s breeding studies, what properties did the characters he examined have that helped him determine patterns of inheritance?
Answer:
Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, conducted breeding studies with pea plants and examined characters that had specific properties that aided him in determining patterns of inheritance. The characters Mendel examined had the following key properties:
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Distinct Traits: The characters Mendel studied had easily distinguishable traits, such as tall versus short plants, yellow versus green peas, smooth versus wrinkled seeds, etc. These distinct and easily observable traits allowed Mendel to track their inheritance patterns accurately.
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Controlled Breeding: Mendel conducted controlled pollination and ensured that he bred pea plants with specific traits. By controlling the breeding process, Mendel was able to predict the traits of the offspring and analyze how they were inherited from the parent plants.
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Purebred Lines: Mendel worked with purebred lines of pea plants that consistently produced offspring with the same traits as the parents. This helped him establish a clear understanding of dominant and recessive traits and how they were passed on from one generation to the next.
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Large Sample Size: Mendel meticulously analyzed a large number of pea plants and their offspring to gather statistically significant data. This extensive sample size allowed him to identify inheritance patterns and formulate his groundbreaking laws of heredity.
By studying characters with these properties, Mendel was able to establish the fundamental principles of inheritance, including dominance, segregation, and independent assortment, which laid the foundation for the field of genetics.