When were genes discovered?

In the 1800s a monk named Gregor Mendel experimented with characteristics in pea plants by cross-fertilizing plants with different traits. He kept a careful track of the traits displayed by the pea plants produced by cross-fertilization, discovering that the characteristics from the parent plants were inherited by the progeny (off-spring) plants in specific patterns.

Mendel also discovered during his experiments that certain genes seemed more dominant than others. For example, if a pea with a white flower is cross-fertilized with a pea with a pink flower, the resulting flowers will all be pink.

This is clear in human beings. A parent with brown-brown genes produces only children with brown eyes, while a parent with brown-blue genes could produce children with eyes other than brown.

Fact file:

Chromosomes are tiny threads that are present in all cells apart from red blood cells. They contain all the information for an entire person to develop. There are46 chromosomes in each cell. They come in 22 pairs, plus another special pair that determine the person’s sex.

 

Picture Credit : Google