Transcript “The Father of Genetics”

“The Father of Genetics”
Gregor Johann Mendel
(1822-1884)
Shane Connolly
Johann Mendel
•
•
•
•
•
Born July 22, 1822
Born in present day Czech Republic
Son of a peasant farmer
Only son (2 sisters)
Almost didn’t go to school
– Poor
– Father’s injury
Education
• 1841 - Philosophy Institute of Olomouc
• 1843 - St. Thomas Monastery
– Augustinian Order
– Took test to become teacher - failed
• 1851 - University of Vienna
– Studied to teach Math and Biology
– Became ill when he went to take test again
Early Work
• Curious about the characteristics of
different species
• Started work with the color of mice hair
Pea Experiment
• 7 characteristics tested
– position of the flowers on the stem
– stem length
– color of the unripe pod
– shape of the ripe seed
– color of the seed coat
– shape of the ripe pod
– color of the ripe seed
Pea Plants (cont.)
• First experimented with round seeds and
wrinkled seeds
• Tried pure round seeds and pure wrinkled
seeds next to each other
• Bred pure round seeds with pure wrinkled
seeds and all came out round
• Next generation saw round seeds at a 3:1
with wrinkled seeds
Basics of Heredity
• Dominant trait (A) - trait that when combined
purely with another pure opposite trait, will
show up in the next generation
• Recessive Trait (a) - trait that when combined
purely with another pure opposite trait, will
not show up in the next generation
• Called the traits “factors”
Mendel’s Laws
• The Law of Segregation - Each parent carries
1 trait that are combined together during
reproduction, even though only 1 shows
• Law of Independent Assortment - When
parents with 2 different traits reproduce the
inheritance of one trait does not affect the
inheritance of the other, and chance decides
which one does show up
• Law of Dominance - There will always be 1
dominant trait and 1 recessive trait.
End of Work
• Presented these findings in a paper called
"Experiments in Plant Hybridization" to the
Association for Natural Research twice
• Published by the association a little later
• Work was unrenowned, too complicated
• 1863 - became abbot of monastery
• 1870 - Tornado took out greenhouse
• Died Jan. 6, 1884
"My scientific labors have brought me a
great deal of satisfaction, and I am
convinced that before long the entire
world will praise the result of these
labors.”
Rediscovery
• 1900 3 scientist rediscovered
– Carl Correns in Germany
– Hugo de Vries in the Netherlands
– Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg in Austria
• Development of phenotype vs genotype
– 1911, Wilhelm Johannsen
• Punnet Squares
– Reginald Crundall Punnett
• Still accepted today
Summary
• Served as a monk in the Augustinian
Order
• Discovered the concept of dominant
and recessive traits
• Work wasn’t recognized until 25 years
after his death
References
• http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/bi
ography/klmno/mendel_gregor.html
• http://mendel.imp.ac.at/mendeljsp/biography/
biography.jsp
• http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mendel/gregor.htm
• http://web.pdx.edu/~cruzan/Kid's%20Mendel
%20Web/Johann%20Mendel.htm
• http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/
Gregor_Mendel.php
• http://www.strangescience.net/mendel.htm