<p>Medical student</p><a href="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/aa01f729-ed66-4a85-a846-b1e173c2b33a"><img alt="" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/aa01f729-ed66-4a85-a846-b1e173c2b33a"/></a>

<p><img alt="" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/3ea55419-07f9-44a5-8a1c-218e6166a078" width="300"/></p>
<h3><strong>What's so interesting about pea plants?</strong></h3>
<p>These purple-flowered plants are not just pretty to look at. Plants like these led to a huge leap forward in biology. The plants are common garden pea plants, and they were studied in the mid-1800s by an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel. With his careful experiments, Mendel uncovered the secrets of heredity, or how parents pass characteristics to their offspring.</p>
<p>You may not care much about heredity in pea plants, but you probably care about your own heredity. Mendel's discoveries apply to you as well as to peas—and to all other living things that reproduce sexually.</p>
<h2>Mendel and His Pea Plants</h2>
<p>People have long known that the <a href="https://app.ulearngo.com/tutorials/introducing-study-of-life/characteristics-of-living-things">characteristics of living things</a> are similar in parents and their offspring. Whether it's the flower color in pea plants or nose shape in people, it is obvious that offspring resemble their parents. However, it wasn't until the experiments of Gregor Mendel that scientists understood how characteristics are inherited. Mendel's discoveries formed the basis of <strong>genetics</strong>, the science of heredity. That's why Mendel is often called the "father of genetics." It's not common for a single researcher to have such an important impact on science. The importance of Mendel's work was due to three things: a curious mind, <a data-lesson="sound" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="sensory-systems" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/sensory-systems/sound">sound</a> scientific methods, and good luck. You'll see why when you read about Mendel's experiments.</p>
<p>Gregor Mendel was born in 1822 and grew up on his parents' farm in Austria. He did well in school and became a monk. He also went to the University of Vienna, where he studied science and math. His professors encouraged him to learn science through experimentation and to use math to make sense of his results. Mendel is best known for his experiments with the pea plant <em>Pisum sativum</em> (see the figure below).</p>
<p><img alt="Gregor Mendel portrait" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/65323f9e-1df4-4d68-821d-afb1bd1ad01d" title="Gregor Mendel portrait"/></p>
<p>The image above shows Gregor Mendel. The Austrian monk Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plants. He did all of his research in the garden of the monastery where he lived.</p>
<h3>Blending Theory of Inheritance</h3>
<p>During Mendel's time, the blending <a data-lesson="scientific-theories" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="biology-foundations" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/biology-foundations/scientific-theories">theory</a> of inheritance was popular. This is the theory that offspring have a blend, or mix, of the characteristics of their parents. Mendel noticed plants in his own garden that weren't a blend of the parents. For example, a tall plant and a short plant had offspring that were either tall or short but not medium in height. Observations such as these led Mendel to question the blending theory. He wondered if there was a different underlying principle that could explain how characteristics are inherited. He decided to experiment with pea plants to find out. In fact, Mendel experimented with almost 30,000 pea plants over the next several years! </p>
<h3>Why Study Pea Plants?</h3>
<p>Why did Mendel choose common, garden-variety pea plants for his experiments? Pea plants are a good choice because they are fast growing and easy to raise. They also have several visible characteristics that may vary. These characteristics, which are shown in the figure below, include seed form and color, flower color, pod form and color, placement of pods and <a data-lesson="flowers" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="seed-plants" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/seed-plants/flowers">flowers</a> on stems, and stem length. Each characteristic has two common values. For example, seed form may be round or wrinkled, and flower color may be white or purple (violet).</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 800px"><img alt="Summary of the characteristics Mendel studied" height="397" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/ea3d5179-96c0-47f0-b83a-ddcbbb6f84be" title="Summary of the characteristics Mendel studied" width="800"/><p class="wp-caption-text">Mendel investigated seven different characteristics in pea plants. In this chart, cotyledons refer to the tiny leaves inside seeds. Axial pods are located along the stems. Terminal pods are located at the ends of the stems.</p></div>
<h3>Controlling Pollination</h3>
<p>To research how characteristics are passed from parents to offspring, Mendel needed to control pollination. <strong>Pollination</strong> is the <a data-lesson="fertilization" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="reproductive-system" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/reproductive-system/fertilization">fertilization</a> step in the <a data-lesson="animal-sexual-reproduction" data-subject="biology" data-tutorial="reproductive-system" href="https://app.ulearngo.com/biology/reproductive-system/animal-sexual-reproduction">sexual reproduction</a> of plants. <strong>Pollen</strong> consists of tiny grains that are the male gametes of plants. They are produced by a male flower part called the <strong>anther</strong> (see the figure below). Pollination occurs when pollen is transferred from the anther to the stigma of the same or another flower. The <strong>stigma</strong> is a female part of a flower. It passes the pollen grains to female gametes in the ovary.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 500px"><img alt="Parts of a flower" height="209" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/1e6131f6-a934-4327-bbd6-dd18c67b4dbb" title="Parts of a flower" width="500"/><p class="wp-caption-text">Flowers are the reproductive organs of plants. Each pea plant flower has both male and female parts. The anther is part of the stamen, the male structure that produces male gametes (pollen). The stigma is part of the pistil, the female structure that produces female gametes and guides the pollen grains to them. The stigma receives the pollen grains and passes them to the ovary, which contains female gametes.</p></div>
<p>Pea plants are naturally self-pollinating. In <strong>self-pollination</strong>, pollen grains from anthers on one plant are transferred to stigmas of flowers on the same plant. Mendel was interested in the offspring of two different parent plants, so he had to prevent self-pollination. He removed the anthers from the flowers of some of the plants in his experiments. Then he pollinated them by hand with pollen from other parent plants of his choice. When pollen from one plant fertilizes another plant of the same species, it is called <strong>cross-pollination</strong>. The offspring that result from such a cross are called <strong>hybrids.</strong></p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="335" name="184808" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GTiOETaZg4w?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;cc_lang_pref=en&amp;cc_load_policy=1" width="580"></iframe></p>
<h2>Summary</h2>
<ul>
<li>Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plants to learn how characteristics are passed from parents to offspring.</li>
<li>Mendel's discoveries formed the basis of genetics, the science of heredity.</li>
<li>Cross-pollination produces hybrids.</li>
</ul>

ad260561-7f24-4cf8-a3f2-b129f5e47c91

Pea Plants

Biology studies life and living organisms. Biology can be divided into different sections that cover the morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, and so on of living organisms.

Biology

Explore the fascinating world of genetics and learn about pea plants, Mendel&#8217;s experiments and laws, probability and Punnett squares, DNA structure and replication, gene expression, genetic disorders, and biotechnology applications along with their ethical, legal, and social issues.


Pea Plants

Lesson video

Track Your Learning Progress

Earlier discussion