GROUP 5

a mating between individuals who have

different alleles at one genetic locus of interest. The
character(s) being studied in a monohybrid cross are
governed by two alleles for a single locus.
To carry out such a cross, each parent is chosen to be
homozygous or true breeding for a given trait (locus).
When a cross satisfies the conditions for a monohybrid
cross, it is usually detected by a characteristic distribution
of second generation (F
2
) offspring that is sometimes
called the monohybrid ratio.



Inheritance pattern of
dominant (red) and
recessive (white)
phenotypes when
each parent

1. is homozygous for either the dominant or recessive
trait.

2. All members of the F
1
generation are heterozygous and
share the same dominant phenotype

3. while the F
2
generation exhibits a 3:1 ratio of dominant
to recessive phenotypes
Generally, the monohybrid cross is used to determine the
F2 generation from a pair of homozygous grandparents
(one grandparent dominant, the other recessive) which
results in an F1 generation that are all heterozygous.
Crossing two heterozygous parents from the F1
generation results in an F2 generation that produces a
75% chance for the appearance of the dominant
phenotype, of which two-thirds are heterozygous, and a
25% chance for the appearance of the recessive
phenotype.
This cross was originally used by biologist, Gregor
Mendel, who crossed two pea plants to obtain a hybrid
variety, discovering the possible changes in phenotypes
of various alleles.

Gregor Mendel (18221884) was an Austrian monk who
theorized basic rules of inheritance. From 1858 to 1866,
he bred garden peas in his monastery garden and
analyzed the offspring of these matings.
The garden pea was good choice of experimental
organism because: many varieties were available that
bred true for clear-cut, that also varied in a qualitative -
rather than quantitative - way.
Peas are normally self-pollinated because the stamens
and carpels are enclosed within the petals. By removing
the stamens from unripe flowers, Mendel could brush
pollen from another variety on the carpels when they
ripened.

All the peas produced in the second or hybrid generation
were round.
All the peas of this F1 generation have an Rr genotype.
All the haploid sperm and eggs produced by meiosis
received one chromosome 7.
All the zygotes received one R allele (from the round
parent) and one r allele (from the wrinkled parent).
Because the round trait is dominant, the phenotype of all
the seeds was round.

P gametes
(round parent)
R R
P gametes
(wrinkled
parent)
r
Rr Rr
r
Rr Rr

Mendel then allowed his hybrid peas to self-pollinate. The
wrinkled trait which had disappeared in his hybrid
generation reappeared in 25% of the new crop of
peas.


Random union of equal numbers of R and r gametes
produced an F2 generation with 25% RR and 50% Rr -
both with the round phenotype - and 25% rr with the
wrinkled phenotype.

F1 gametes
R r
F1
gametes
R RR Rr
r Rr rr
Mendel then allowed some of each phenotype in the F2
generation to self-pollinate. His results: All the wrinkled
seeds in the F2 generation produced only wrinkled seeds
in the F3. One-third (193/565) of the round F1 seeds
produced only round seeds in the F3 generation, but two-
thirds (372/565) of them produced both types of seeds in
the F3 and - once again - in a 3:1 ratio.
One-third of the round seeds and all of the wrinkled
seeds in the F2 generation were homozygous and
produced only seeds of the same phenotype.
But two thirds of the round seeds in the F2 were
heterozygous and their self-pollination produced both
phenotypes in the ratio of a typical F1 cross.
Phenotype ratios are approximate. The union of sperm
and eggs is random. As the size of the sample gets
larger, however, chance deviations become minimized
and the ratios approach the theoretical predictions more
closely.
The table shows the actual seed production by ten of
Mendel's F1 plants. While his individual plants deviated
widely from the expected 3:1 ratio, the group as a whole
approached it quite closely.

Round Wrinkled
45 12
27 8
24 7
19 16
32 11
26 6
88 24
22 10
28 6
25 7
Total: 336 Total: 107
To explain his results, Mendel formulated a hypothesis
that included the following: In the organism there is a pair
of factors that controls the appearance of a given
characteristic. (We call them genes.) The organism
inherits these factors from its parents, one from each.

Each is transmitted from generation to generation as a
discrete, unchanging unit. (The wrinkled seeds in the F2
generation were no less wrinkled than those in the P
generation although they had passed through the round-
seeded F1 generation.)


When the gametes are formed, the factors separate and
are distributed as units to each gamete. This statement is
often called Mendel's rule of segregation. If an organism
has two unlike factors (we call them alleles) for a
characteristic, one may be expressed to the total
exclusion of the other (dominant vs recessive).