What are these confusing boxes for?

• After studying his results, Mendel realized that in order to get the results that he got,

• EACH PLANT HAD TO GET GENETIC INFORMATION FROM EACH PARENT.

• This genetic information is called

• So, each different trait…has a specific gene that tells the plant to grow that way.

• Each different FORM of the gene is called an

But Mendel had a problem…

• He had to figure out how the different interact.

• He knew which ones were DOMINANT: the trait that appeared most

often

RECESSIVE: the trait that disappeared in the 1st generation

So what did Mendel do?

• He removed the anthers of one plant and transferred pollen from another plant to the first one.

• The second time around, he let the new plants self-pollinate and grow new plants.

• So another Reginald Punnett the scientist who came up with the Punnett Square.

• He was able to visualize how the different alleles combined to create a

or, the type of genes the offspring has.

The determines the

Or, what the plant actually looks like.

So, this is how it works…

Each parent gives the offspring one half of it’s traits…

Rr

Rr

Rr

Rr

For rabbits, the allele for black fur, B, is dominant over the allele for white fur, b.

Suppose two black parents have four bunnies -- 3 black and 1 white…

1. Create a Punnett Square to help you answer the following questions.

2. What are the genotypes of the parents?

3. What are the possible genotypes of all four siblings?