Question

Define Law Of segregation and independent assortment

Answer 1

The Law of Segregation states that every individual organism contains two alleles for each trait, and that these alleles segregate (separate) during meiosis such that each gamete contains only one of the alleles. An offspring thus receives a pair of alleles for a trait by inheriting homologous chromosomes from the parent organisms: one allele for each trait from each parent.

The Law of Independent Assortment states that alleles for separate traits are passed independently of one another from parents to offspring. That is, the biological selection of an allele for one trait has nothing to do with the selection of an allele for any other trait. Mendel found support for this law in his dihybrid cross experiments . In his monohybrid crosses, an idealized 3:1 ratio between dominant and recessive phenotypes resulted. In dihybrid crosses, however, he found a 9:3:3:1 ratios This shows that each of the two alleles is inherited independently from the other, with a 3:1 phenotypic ratio for each.