Q.8 What do you know about Gregor Mendel? Why he selected pea plant for his genetic experiments?
Answer:
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel was monk (priest) in Austria, He developed the fundamental principles of genetics.
Special factors
Mendel proposed that there are “special factors” in organisms which control expression of traits and their transmission to next generations. These factors were eventually termed as genes.
Pea Plant (Pisum sativum)
Mendel selected pea plant to carry out large number of genetic experiments. He argued that an organism for genetic experiments should have the following features:
1. There should be a number of different traits that can be studied.
2. The organism should have contrasting traits e.g. for the trait of height there should be only two
very different phenotypes i.e. tallness and dwarfness.
3. The organism (if it is a plant) should be self-fertilizing but cross fertilization should also be
possible.
4. The organism should have short but fast life cycle.
Cross pollination can also be done by transferring the pollen grains from the flower on one plant to the flower on another plant. Each trait studied in pea plant had two distinct forms.
