Heredity: The Basics
Defining Heredity
Heredity, also known as inheritance or biological inheritance, refers to the process by which traits are passed down from parents to their offspring. These traits encompass a wide range of characteristics, from physical attributes like eye color and hair texture to more complex traits such as behavior and disease susceptibility.
Gregor Mendel's Legacy
Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and scientist, is considered the father of classical genetics. His meticulous experiments with pea plants in the mid-19th century led him to formulate the principles of heredity. These principles, based on patterns of inheritance observed in his peas, have laid the groundwork for much of our current understanding of heredity.
Dominant and Recessive Traits
Mendel's work revealed that some traits are dominant, meaning they will always be expressed if an individual inherits at least one copy of the dominant allele. Conversely, recessive traits require two copies of the recessive allele to be expressed. The interaction between dominant and recessive traits plays a crucial role in determining the phenotype (observable traits) of an organism.
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