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Experiments on Plant Hybridization" (German: Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden) is a seminal paper written in 1865 and published in 1866 [1] [2] by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian friar considered to be the founder of modern genetics. The paper was the result after years spent studying genetic traits in Pisum sativum, the pea plant.
Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants: plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. Taking seed color as an example, Mendel showed that when a true-breeding yellow pea and a true-breeding green pea were cross-bred, their offspring always produced yellow seeds.
He then conceived the idea of heredity units, which he called hereditary "factors". Mendel found that there are alternative forms of factors—now called genes—that account for variations in inherited characteristics. For example, the gene for flower color in pea plants exists in two forms, one for purple and the other for white.
[60] [61] He ended up growing and examining about 28,000 pea plants in the course of his experiments. [62] Mendel chose peas for his experiments because he could grow them easily, pure-bred strains were readily available, [63] and the structure of the flowers protect them from cross-pollination, and cross pollination was easy. [64]
An image of multiple chromosomes, taken from many cells. Plant genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity specifically in plants. [1] [2] It is generally considered a field of biology and botany, but intersects frequently with many other life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems.
The garden pea was chosen as an experimental organism because many varieties were available that bred true for qualitative traits and their pollination could be manipulated. The seven variable characteristics Mendel investigated in pea plants were. [5] seed texture (round vs wrinkled) seed color (yellow vs green) flower color (white vs purple)
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Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance".