Background

The laws of segregation, independent assortment, and dominance, discovered in the mid 19th century by Gregor Mendel, form the basis of all genetics. The ability to predict the results of crossing experiments and explain any variance between expected and observed results is still a vital part of our understanding of heredity. The relationship between the genotype and the phenotype of an organism is now understood with better clarity than it was in the early part of the 20th century. Today our ability to determine gene sequences in individual organisms and populations of organisms has allowed us to deepen our understanding of heredity. In this lab assignment you will experiment with monohybrid crosses and explore the role of chance in genetics.