Background
What is Mendelian Genetics?
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who is today considered the "Father of modern Genetics". By studying pea plants in the 1850's and 60's, he was the first person to succeed in predicting how traits are passed from one generation to the next. Mendel studied one trait at a time (just the pea plant height or size of peas) and used "true breeding" plants (i.e. a True breeding tall plant is one that came from a population that was tall for many generations and always produced tall offspring). Mendel concluded that each organism has two factors, or alleles that control each trait. These two alleles determined the plants height, tall or short. The plant could have two tall alleles, two short alleles, or one tall and one short allele. Dominant alleles masked or hid all other alleles while recessive alleles were the alleles that were masked in the presence of a dominant allele. What About Human Traits? To apply the concept of Mendelian Genetics, teachers often use a "Human Mendelian Traits" activity in which students look at themselves for traits that follow Mendelian inheritance, also known as autosomal traits. Students then look to their parents' phenotypes for confirmation of Mendelian inheritance in these human traits. The following is a list of a few human traits thought to be autosomal. This list was published by University of Utah's Health Sciences department:
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Cross of a true breeding tall pea plant and a true breeding short pea plant results in all heterozygous tall pea plants.
Sample of human traits worksheet given in Wake High School's biology class
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Sources:
Charles Sturt University. "Biology." HSC Online. Neals, 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Howard Hughs Medical Institute. "Observable Human Characteristics." Observable Human Characteristics. University of Utah, 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Jones, Kristin. "Genetics Unit." Biology Class. Novi High School, Novi. 8 Dec. 2010. Lecture.
Charles Sturt University. "Biology." HSC Online. Neals, 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Howard Hughs Medical Institute. "Observable Human Characteristics." Observable Human Characteristics. University of Utah, 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Jones, Kristin. "Genetics Unit." Biology Class. Novi High School, Novi. 8 Dec. 2010. Lecture.