Question

Before the time of Gregor Mendel and genetics, sexual reproduction was thought to produce a blending or equal mixing of the parents' traits. Today we know that a. offspring will be identical to one another and demonstrate traits exactly halfway between the parents' traits. b. offspring can vary from receiving over 99% of one parent's genes to receiving over 99% of the other parent's genes. c. offspring inherit essentially 50% of their genes from each parent, but two sibling offspring may share with each other from zero to 23 chromosomes in common from each parent, and further variation may occur due to crossing-over. d. offspring inherit copies of the same 23 pair of chromosomes from each of their parents but the rate of crossing-over makes them very dissimilar. e. there is one chance in 23 of getting identical sets of chromosomes from one parent, times two because there are two parents; therefore, two siblings out of every 46 are really identical except for crossing-over.

Answer 1

The law of segregation lets us predict how a single feature associated with a single gene is inherited. In some cases, though, we might want to predict the inheritance of two characteristics associated with two different genes. How can we do this? [Refresher on the law of segregation]

To make an accurate prediction, we need to know whether the two genes are inherited independently or not. That is, we need to know whether they "ignore" one another when they're sorted into gametes, or whether they "stick together" and get inherited as a unit.

When Gregor Mendel asked this question, he found that different genes were inherited independently of one another, following what's called the law of independent assortment. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the law of independent assortment and how it is used to make predictions. We'll also see when and why the law of independent assortment does (or doesn't!) hold true.

Note: If you are not yet familiar with how individual genes are inherited, you may want to check out the article on the law of segregation or the introduction to heredity video before you dive into this article.

Step-by-step explanation: