Understanding genetics with pea plants and the Punnett square
This video uses a Punnett square to illustrate how Gregor Mendel determined the way traits are inherited.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Transcript
Certain traits are passed down from parents to their offspring. For example, two black guinea pigs will likely have offspring with black coats. But sometimes they produce a brown guinea pig. How does this happen?
The first person to show experimentally how certain traits are passed from parent to offspring was an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel. In the mid-1800s Mendel crossed pea plants and studied their offspring. He concluded that each plant had two factors responsible for determining a trait, with one factor coming from each of its parents. These factors today are called alleles.
A pair of alleles—one from each parent—makes up the genotype for a trait. The way the trait appears is its phenotype. In pea plants, purebred purple flowers have a genotype with two purple alleles, which produces a phenotype of purple petals. Purebred white flowers have a genotype of two white alleles, which displays the white phenotype. But what happens when you cross purebred purple flowers with purebred white flowers?
We can use a tool called a Punnett square to find out. Like Mendel, we’ll first cross purebred purple flowers with purebred white flowers. These are the parental generation. Their offspring—the first filial, or F1, generation—each receive one purple allele and one white allele. Since all of the offspring have the purple phenotype, this tells us that the purple allele is dominant to the white allele.
Now let’s cross the F1 flowers to create the second filial, or F2, generation. The square shows that 25% of the F2s received two purple alleles, 50% received one purple and one white allele, and 25% received two white alleles. This means that 75% of the offspring displayed the dominant phenotype of purple flowers, and 25% displayed the recessive phenotype of white flowers. Note that if a dominant allele is present, the dominant phenotype is displayed. To display the recessive phenotype, both alleles must be recessive.
And what about those guinea pigs? Remember that each parent has two alleles for coat color. Both parents have black coats, but one of their offspring is brown. This tells us that the parents each have one black allele and one brown allele. The allele for a black coat is dominant, so the parent guinea pigs are black. But if one of their offspring receives the two recessive brown alleles, it will have a brown coat.
The first person to show experimentally how certain traits are passed from parent to offspring was an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel. In the mid-1800s Mendel crossed pea plants and studied their offspring. He concluded that each plant had two factors responsible for determining a trait, with one factor coming from each of its parents. These factors today are called alleles.
A pair of alleles—one from each parent—makes up the genotype for a trait. The way the trait appears is its phenotype. In pea plants, purebred purple flowers have a genotype with two purple alleles, which produces a phenotype of purple petals. Purebred white flowers have a genotype of two white alleles, which displays the white phenotype. But what happens when you cross purebred purple flowers with purebred white flowers?
We can use a tool called a Punnett square to find out. Like Mendel, we’ll first cross purebred purple flowers with purebred white flowers. These are the parental generation. Their offspring—the first filial, or F1, generation—each receive one purple allele and one white allele. Since all of the offspring have the purple phenotype, this tells us that the purple allele is dominant to the white allele.
Now let’s cross the F1 flowers to create the second filial, or F2, generation. The square shows that 25% of the F2s received two purple alleles, 50% received one purple and one white allele, and 25% received two white alleles. This means that 75% of the offspring displayed the dominant phenotype of purple flowers, and 25% displayed the recessive phenotype of white flowers. Note that if a dominant allele is present, the dominant phenotype is displayed. To display the recessive phenotype, both alleles must be recessive.
And what about those guinea pigs? Remember that each parent has two alleles for coat color. Both parents have black coats, but one of their offspring is brown. This tells us that the parents each have one black allele and one brown allele. The allele for a black coat is dominant, so the parent guinea pigs are black. But if one of their offspring receives the two recessive brown alleles, it will have a brown coat.
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