how do mendel's experiments show that the traits are inherited independently
Answers
Mendel demonstrated that traits are inherited independently through his dihybrid cross. He considered two traits at a time, seed colour and seed shape in which yellow colour (YY) and round shape (RR) are dominant over green colour (yy) and wrinkled shape (rr), respectively. Mendel observed that the F2 progeny of dihybrid cross had a phenotypic ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 and produced nine plants with round yellow seeds, three plants with round green seeds, three plants with wrinkled yellow seeds and one plant with wrinkled green seeds. In this experiment, he found that round yellow and wrinkled green are parental combinations whereas round green and wrinkled yellow are new combinations. In a dihybrid cross between two plants having round yellow (RRYY) and wrinkled green seeds (rryy), four types of gametes (RY, Ry, rY, ry ) are produced. Each of these gametes segregate independently of each other and each has a frequency of 25% of the total gametes produced. From this experiment, he concluded that when two pairs of traits are combined together in a hybrid, one pair of character segregates independent of the other pair of character. This is known as the law of independent assortment.
Explanation:
Mendel took two pairs of alternative expression of two traits of a pea plant and crossed them. The F1 progeny showed only the dominant characteristics among each pair. The F2 progeny had phenotypes similar to parents but also new phenotypes that did not exist in the parents. This indicates that pair of alternate characteristics behave independently of the other pair and are thus inherited independent of each other.
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