Mendel's First Law

Variations to Mendel's First Law

Pedigree Analysis

Mendel's Second Law

Chi-Square Test

Pleiotropy

Epistasis

Modifier Genes

Penetrance and Expressivity

Study Questions

Mendelian Genetics Overheads

Mendelian Genetics WWW Links

Genetic Topics

Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment

To this point we have followed the expression of only one gene. Mendel also performed crosses in which he followed the segregation of two genes. These experiments formed the basis of his discovery of his second law, the law of independent assortment. First, a few terms are presented.

Dihybrid cross - a cross between two parents that differ by two pairs of alleles (AABB x aabb)

Dihybrid- an individual heterozygous for two pairs of alleles (AaBb)

Again a dihybrid cross is not a cross between two dihybrids. Now, let's look at a dihybrid cross that Mendel performed.

Parental Cross: Yellow, Round Seed x Green, Wrinkled Seed

F1 Generation: All yellow, round

F2 Generation: 9 Yellow, Round, 3 Yellow, Wrinkled, 3 Green, Round, 1 Green, Wrinkled

At this point, let's diagram the cross using specific gene symbols.

Choose Symbol Seed Color: Yellow = G; Green = g
Seed Shape: Round = W; Wrinkled = w

The dominance relationship between alleles for each trait was already known to Mendel when he made this cross. The purpose of the dihybrid cross was to determine if any relationship existed between different allelic pairs.

Let's now look at the cross using our gene symbols.

Now set up the Punnett Square for the F2 cross.

Female Gametes
GW Gw gW gw
GW GGWW
(Yellow,
round)
GGWw
(Yellow,
round)
GgWW
(Yellow,
round)
GgWw
(Yellow,
round)
Male Gw GGWw
(Yellow,
round)
GGww
(Yellow,
wrinkled)
GgWw
(Yellow,
round)
Ggww
(Yellow,
wrinkled)
Gametes gW GgWW
(Yellow,
round)
GgWw
(Yellow,
round)
ggWW
(Green,
round)
ggWw
(Green,
gw GgWw
(Yellow,
round)
Ggww
(Yellow,
wrinkled)
ggWw
(Green,
round)
ggww
(Green,
wrinkled)

The phenotypes and general genotypes from this cross can be represented in the following manner:

Phenotype General Genotype
9 Yellow, Round Seed G_W_
3 Yellow, Wrinkled Seed G_ww
3 Green, Round Seed ggW_
1 Green, Wrinkled Seed ggww

The results of this experiment led Mendel to formulate his second law.

Mendel's Second Law - the law of independent assortment; during gamete formation the segregation of the alleles of one allelic pair is independent of the segregation of the alleles of another allelic pair

As with the monohybrid crosses, Mendel confirmed the results of his second law by performing a backcross - F1 dihybrid x recessive parent.

Let's use the example of the yellow, round seeded F1.

Punnett Square for the Backcross

Female Gametes

GW

Gw

gW

gw

Male
Gametes
gw

GgWw
(Yellow, round)

Ggww
(Yellow, wrinkled)

ggWw
(Green, round)

ggww
(Green, wrinkled)

The phenotypic ratio of the test cross is:

  • 1 Yellow, Round Seed
  • 1 Yellow, Wrinkled Seed
  • 1 Green, Round Seed
  • 1 Green, Wrinkled Seed

Copyright © 2000. Phillip McClean