Mendel's Disproof of Blended Inheritance: The Essential Reason

What was the key reason for Mendel to disprove the theory of blended inheritance?

a) The traits that Mendel examined all involved genes that did not display linkage.

b) The traits that Mendel examined all involved the reproductive structures of the pea plant.

c) Mendel pioneered techniques permitting the fusion of male and female gametes from the same plant to produce a zygote.

d) The traits that Mendel examined involved an allele that was dominant and an allele that was recessive.

Answer:

Mendel disproved blended inheritance primarily by studying the traits with an allele that was dominant and an allele that was recessive.

Explanation: Mendel's significant contribution in disproving the theory of blended inheritance chiefly revolved around the traits he examined, which involved an allele that was dominant and an allele that was recessive. This is crucial as Mendel's work demonstrated that traits are not blended in offspring but instead can be accounted for by pairs of dominant and recessive genes, maintaining their distinctness and could be passed on. This concept, along with his laws of segregation and independent assortment, allowed Mendel to come up with the first genetic model that could predict the behavior of traits across generations, effectively disproving the theory of blended inheritance.

Mendel's experimentation with seven distinct traits of pea plants did not involve gene linkage in his publication. His experiments were designed in a way that avoided the effects of gene linkage by controlling for the shuffling effects of recombination. Additionally, Mendel's strategic decisions in manipulating the fusion of gametes ensured that his results were directly related to the genetic inheritance patterns he was studying. These aspects were instrumental in Mendel's ability to challenge and disprove the theory of blended inheritance.