1. Gregor Mendel 1822-1884

2.  First person to trace the characteristics of successive generations of living things  He was an Augustinian monk who taught natural science and math to high school students. The Monk Who Studied Pea Plants

3.  Second child of Anton and Rosine Mendel  They were farmers in Brunn, Czechoslovakia  They couldn’t afford for him to attend college  Gregor Mendel then attended the Augustinian Monastery and became a monk

5.  He was later sent to the University of Vienna to study.  Mendel was inspired to study variance in plants by his professors and colleagues

6. Gregor J. Mendel, O.S.A., experimental garden (35x7 meters) in the grounds of the Augustinian Monastery in Old Brno.Its appearance before 1922. Courtesy of Villanova University Archives. The Monastery Garden with the greenhouse which Gregor J. Mendel, O.S.A., had built in 1870. Its appearance before 1902.Courtesy of Villanova University Archives.

7. Mendel studied the variances in traits displayed by pea plants The traits observed included seed shape, seed color, flower color, and height. He realized that the instructions for plant traits must be carried in an organism’s genetic material

8. Mendel’s Experiments He took the male pollen from one plant and fertilized the female plant to cross traits (combine genetic material). After the seeds grew, he planted them to see what traits would appear in the next generation. “F1 Generation” “P Generation”

9. Mendel’s Results Y= Yellow allele P Generation = Parents F1 Generation= First Filial (means first son in Latin) F2 Generation= Second Filial Mendel realized that traits are inherited in numerical ratios ! He took a purebred green seeded plant and crossed with a purebred yellow seeded plant. 100% of the F1 always had yellow seeds! F2 always had a 3:1 ratio!

10. Mendel’s Conclusions Y= Yellow allele He realized that each trait is controlled by two genes. He called this pair of genes that code for the same trait alleles. He realized that each plant inherits half of their genes from each parent. He called the trait that always showed up in the next generation the dominant trait (represented with a capital letter) He called the trait that seemed to hide in the next generation the recessive trait (represented with a lower case letter)

11. Mendel’s Findings Applied YYyy Yy YYyyYy F1 Generation F2 Generation Y= yellow allele (Dominant Trait) y= green allele (Recessive Trait) P Generation YY= Yellow Purebreed yy= Green Purebreed Yy= Yellow Hybird

12. From his studies, Mendel derived certain basic laws of heredity:  Hereditary factors do not combine, but are passed intact  Each member of the parental generation transmits only half of its hereditary factors to each offspring (with certain factors "dominant" over others)  Different offspring of the same parents receive different sets of hereditary factors.

13.  Mendel’s works became the foundation of modern genetics  He later also crossed mice  His love of nature encouraged his interest in research  Also interested in meteorology and theories of evolution  It took seven years to prove laws of inheritance