gen-define-mendelian-inheritance-and-give-one-short-worked-examp-2c12

Define Mendelian inheritance and give one short worked example.

# Mendelian Inheritance **Mendelian inheritance** refers to patterns of genetic transmission that follow the principles discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 1860s. These principles include: 1. **Law of Segregation** - Each parent carries two copies (alleles) of each gene and passes only one randomly to offspring 2. **Law of Independent Assortment** - Genes for different traits are inherited independently 3. **Law of Dominance** - Some alleles are dominant and mask the expression of recessive alleles ## Worked Example: Flower Color in Pea Plants **Cross:** Purple-flowered plant (heterozygous) × White-flowered plant - Purple (P) is dominant - White (p) is recessive - Parent genotypes: **Pp** × **pp** **Punnett Square:** ``` p p ┌────┬────┐ P │ Pp │ Pp │ ├────┼────┤ p │ pp │ pp │ └────┴────┘ ``` **Results:** - **50% Pp** (purple flowers) - **50% pp** (white flowers) **Genotypic ratio:** 1 Pp : 1 pp **Phenotypic ratio:** 1 purple : 1 white This demonstrates simple Mendelian inheritance with complete dominance, where the heterozygous offspring show the dominant phenotype.