Science Content Background Summary

Science Content Background Summary: Heredity is the process by which traits are passed down from parents to offspring. In 1866, Gregor Mendel began publishing results of his studies on pea plants. With these experiments Mendel breed various pea plants and observed the various changes and characteristics of the offspring such as seed color. He found that when breeding various seed colors the results were varied, some offspring remained green, others yellow, and others turned to different shades of these colors. Mendel was able to determine what traits the offspring would have by looking at the genotype of the seeds. The genetic composition of the plant is called the genotype which are the traits that make up the plant. The phenotype is the physical appearance that can be seen (Cooper, 2000).
Mendel’s research showed that an individual inherits traits from its parents through genetic factors called alleles .Each parent as two alleles for every trait and one from each parent is passed down to the offspring(Bagley,2013). The inherited factors from each parent are now known as genes. For each trait there is a dominant and recessive gene. These inherited traits are not a blend of the alleles from each parents, but rather the

Chromosomes carry genes that will determine the characteristics of organisms (Genetic Learning Center, 2004). Mendel’s experiments also showed that when sex cells are formed the traits that the individual inherits from the parents are separated into different sex cells. When the sex cells come together during contraception the offspring will have at least two factors (genes) for each trait, one from the mother and one from the father. It is a matter of chance as to which gene for a specific trait is involved. Though dominance often determines which trait will be passed down there is also co-dominance where both traits are expressed, and incomplete dominance where there is a blend of traits (Bagley,