Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
Webquest
Name_________________________________
http://www.dnaftb.org/
select classical genetics
You will be working through sections 1-4 on the right hand column. Be sure to read the entire screens to fully
develop conceptual logic. You will also need to explore the animations, gallery, and other buttons for each concept.
1.Children Resemble Their Parents
a. List three reasons Gregor Mendel used pea plants to study inherited traits.
1.
2.
3.
b. Distinguish between the flower parts stamen and pistil.
c. Distinguish between self-fertilization and cross-fertilization.
2. Genes Come in Pairs
a. List the seven pea plant traits that Mendel observed while doing this experiments
1.
5.
2.
6.
3.
7.
4.
b. Define phenotype-
c. List the two phenotypes for the following traits:
Stem length
Seed color
Flower position
d. Define genotypee. Define allelef. Define purebred using both the terms genotype and allele.
3. Genes Don’t Blend
a. What type of cross did Mendel perform which lead to his “traits don’t blend” discovery?
b. What observations led Mendel to this “genes don’t blend conclusion?
c. What other observations did Mendel make studying the crosses from question a.
d. Use the gallery collection to help you develop a time reference for Mendel’s work.
4. Some Genes are Dominant
a. How did Mendel explain the observations made during the purebred crosses of different alleles?
b. When Mendel crossed the offspring of the purebred parents, what observations did he make?
c. The terms dominant and recessive describe the behavior of alleles. Distinguish between these two
terms.
Dominant-
Recessive-
d. Mendel explained this observation by proposing that each gene as two alleles. The words homozygous
and heterozygous are used to describe the combination of alleles. Define each of the following words,
using the prefix meanings and the word allele.
Homozygous-
Heterozygous-
e. Using context clues from the animation exercise, distinguish between the terms purebred and hybrid.