How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
Solution:
Mendel showed that the traits could either be dominant or recessive through his experiments that focused on the mono-hybrid cross. The experiment involved him crossing tall (TT) pea plants with dwarf (tt) pea plants. The resultant plants which formed after fertilisation represented the F1 (or filial) generation. All the F1 plants were tall. Mendel then proceeded to self-pollinate the filial generation plants, and the result was that 1/4th of the plants obtained in the F2 generation were dwarfs. From this experiment, Mendel concluded that the F1 tall plants were not true-breeding; instead, they carried the traits for both tall and dwarf heights. A portion of the plants was tall due to the fact that the traits for tallness were dominant over the traits for dwarfness. This cements the notion that traits can either be dominant or recessive.
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