Essay on Mendelian Genetics: The Foundation of Heredity - 107 words

Mendelian Genetics: The Foundation of Heredity

Gregor Mendel transformed science by studying how pea plants pass traits to their offspring. His research into mendelian genetics: the foundation of heredity revealed that specific factors, now called genes, determine an organism's characteristics. He identified dominant traits, which mask others, and recessive traits, which only appear when the dominant version is absent. While a genotype represents the internal genetic code, the phenotype describes the visible physical appearance. Today, students use Punnett squares to map these combinations and predict inheritance patterns. This structured approach explains why children resemble their parents, establishing the essential foundation for modern genetics: the study of heredity.

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