James Baquet

    Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was an Augustinian friar in Moravia. Now part of the Czech Republic, Moravia was part of the Habsburg Empire, and Johann (as he was known) was born in a German-speaking family. He lived in quiet obscurity, and is celebrated today only because of the posthumous discovery of his work.

    Farmers have long known that individuals with desirable traits could be selectively bred, like crossing two larger horses to breed larger offspring. But these farmers were using common sense, and did not understand the rules by which such selective breeding worked.

    It was Gregor Mendel who worked out what we now call Mendelian inheritance. He became a friar to get a free education (when he was given the name “Gregor”). Inspired by his professors and his fellow monks, he conducted his experiments in the abbey gardens.

    Mendel grew up on a farm, so he had the basic skills needed. He focused in on pea plants, and studied seven traits that seemed independently inherited (that is, they were not entangled with other traits) and which were binary in nature. These were the form of the seed (smooth or wrinkled); the tint of the seed’s coat (green or yellow); the form of the seed pod (inflated or constricted); the color of the pod before it ripened (green or yellow); the color of the flower (purple or white); the location of the flower on the stem (axial — at the end of the stem; or terminal — along the sides); and the height of the plant (tall or dwarf).

    Over a seven-year period, Mendel tested around 29,000 plants, and discovered the distribution of dominant and recessive traits. Here’s an example: purple is the dominant flower color. If a 100 percent purple flower is crossed with a 100 percent white one, there are four possible results: one pure purple flower; one pure white flower; and two flowers that appear purple but have a hidden or “recessive” white gene.

    Though his work was published in 1866, its importance was not discovered until the beginning of the 20th century, since when he has been dubbed “the father of modern genetics.”

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. features, characteristics

    2. a place where monks live

    3. nicknamed

    4. famous, praised

    5. a religious person, like a monk

    6. after one’s death

    7. condition of being unknown

    8. hidden by another more dominant aspect

    9. the science of mating plants or animals to achieve a desired effect

    10. mixed up, affected by