Mendel concluded that both the tallness and shortness traits were inherited in the F1 plants, but only the tallness trait was expressed in the F1 generation. The appearance of short plants in the F2 generation indicated that the shortness trait was present as a hidden or recessive trait in the F1 tall plants.
What conclusion did Mendel draw from the observation that one quarter of the F2 progeny of the F1 tall plants were short?
Share
Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, drew a significant conclusion from his observations on the inheritance of traits in pea plants. In one of his classic experiments, Mendel studied the inheritance of height in pea plants. He crossed tall (dominant) and short (recessive) plants, and in the F1 generation, all plants were tall.
In the F2 generation, however, Mendel observed a 3:1 ratio of tall to short plants. The fact that one quarter (25%) of the F2 progeny were short led Mendel to the conclusion that the trait for shortness had not disappeared in the F1 generation but had instead been masked. Mendel proposed the concept of “dominant” and “recessive” traits, suggesting that the tall trait was dominant and the short trait was recessive. The 3:1 ratio provided a statistical pattern consistent with the segregation of alleles during the formation of gametes in the F1 generation and their independent assortment in the F2 generation, forming the basis of Mendel’s laws of inheritance.