Experiments on Plant Hybridization
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Written in 1865 by Gregor Mendel, Experiments on Plant Hybridization (German: Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden) was the result after years spent studying genetic traits in pea plants. Mendel read his paper to the Natural History Society of Brunn in Bohemia at the meetings held on February 8 and March 8 of that year. The paper was later published in Proceedings of the Natural History Society in 1866. In his paper, Mendel compared seven discrete characters:
- Color and smoothness of the seeds (grey and round or white and wrinkled)
- Color of the cotyledons (yellow or green)
- Color of the flowers (white or violet)
- Shape of the pods (full or constricted)
- Color of unripe pods (yellow or green)
- Position of flowers and pods on the stems
- Height of the plants (short or tall)
Through experimentation, Mendel discovered that one inheritable trait would invariably be dominant to its recessive alternative. This model, later known as Mendelian inheritance or Mendelian genetics, provided an alternative to blending inheritance, which was the prevailing theory at the time. Unfortunately, Mendel's work received little attention from the scientific community and was largely forgotten. It was not until the early 20th century that Mendel's work was rediscovered and his ideas used to help form the modern synthesis.
It is interesting to note that Mendel happened to choose a plant for which the traits were discrete. Had Mendel chosen a plant for which multiple genes are needed to express a trait, he may never have arrived at his genetic laws.
In the 1930s, the statistician R.A. Fisher pointed out that the near-accordance of Mendel's results with the predicted ratios were far too perfect to have likely had been actual experimental results. Some historians have attributed this to an over-eager assistant.
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[edit] References
- Mendel, G., 1866, Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verh. Naturforsch. Ver. Brünn 4: 3–47 (in English in 1901, J. R. Hortic. Soc. 26: 1–32)
- Fisher, R. A., 1936, Has Mendel's work been rediscovered? Ann. Sci. 1:115-137.
