Gregor Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants in the 1840s to understand inheritance of traits. He found that pea plants bred true for traits over generations, and that when he crossed plants with contrasting traits, one trait was dominant in the first generation offspring. In subsequent generations, the recessive trait re-emerged in a ratio of 1 in 4 offspring. His experiments led him to propose that factors (now called genes) are inherited independently and traits are inherited following rules of dominance and segregation.

2. Unit IV Learning Goal 1 Describe the research of Gregor Mendel and predict the outcome of genetic crosses.