Quiz | Mendelian Genetics
- Due Feb 27, 2022 at 11:59pm
- Points 10
- Questions 10
- Available Jan 24, 2022 at 8am - Mar 2, 2022 at 11:59pm
- Time Limit None
- Allowed Attempts Unlimited
Instructions
Directions
❗️Be sure to complete all of this module's lessons before you take the quiz.
👍 You can take this quiz as many times as you like. Please use this quiz as an opportunity to review and clarify the course material. Have fun with it!
Note: The questions will change each time you take the quiz. (10 points)
Mendelian Genetics Background
Charles Darwin’s and Alfred Wallace’s concept of natural selection explains why variants within a population increase or decrease in number over generations. One of the foundations of natural selection is the observation that populations are variable and that part of this variation is the result of heredity. When a particular individual has an increased fertility rate and produces a significantly greater number of offspring than other organisms, that individual passes on certain traits to the next generation.
Although Darwin and Wallace recognized the relationship between the processes of inheritance and natural selection, they were never able to define the rules of heredity. They did not discover how new variants, the raw material of natural selection, arose (we now know that new variants arise through mutations in the genetic code). Nor did they figure out how characteristics were transmitted from generation to generation. Although some of the basic principles of genetics were worked out during Darwin’s and Wallace’s time, they were unaware of this new knowledge.
The key to solving one of Darwin’s and Wallace’s difficulties was solved by a Czechoslovakian monk named Gregor Mendel (1822-1884). During the 1860s, Mendel worked out the basic laws of inheritance, which he called the Principle of Segregation and the Principle of Independent Assortment. He also discovered some other principles of genetics including the concept of dominant and recessive genes.
Learning Objectives
This quiz will affirm your knowledge of the following learning objectives:
- Define the concepts of genes and alleles.
- Describe how genes produce the traits that make a pea plant and a human being.
- Describe the basic laws of inheritance.
- Demonstrate your understanding of the laws of inheritance by creating Punnett square diagrams to solve basic genetics problems.
- Describe the processes responsible for the variation among members of a species and between parents and offspring.