Q1Biology
Question
10 marks
Describe Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment and concept of Segregation in detail.
Answer
Mendel's Law of Segregation states that allele pairs separate during gamete formation; the Law of Independent Assortment states that alleles of different gene pairs assort independently, producing a 9:3:3:1 ratio in dihybrid crosses.
- Segregation: demonstrated by monohybrid cross; 3:1 phenotypic ratio in F2.
- Independent assortment: demonstrated by dihybrid cross; 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio in F2.
- Both laws reflect the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis.
- Exceptions: linked genes on the same chromosome do not assort independently.
- Independent assortment is a source of genetic variation, producing 2^n gamete types for n gene pairs.