Objectives - The Inheritance of Variation

An introduction to genetic inheritance, including the principles of segregation and dominance.

At the completion of this lesson you should be able to…

  1. Define the following terms: truebreeding, M1, M2, M3, F1, F2, F3, gamete, gene, gene pairs, allele, genotype, phenotype, monohybrid cross, heterozygous and homozygous.
  2. Apply the principles of segregation and dominance to explain the inheritance of traits that are carefully monitored in a classical genetics experiment.
  3. Explain why planting seeds in progeny rows helps a geneticist determine the genotype of parents.

Copyright 2003

Development of this lesson was supported in part by Cooperative State Research, Education, & Extension Service, U.S. Dept of Agriculture under Agreement Number 98-EATP-1-0403 administered by Cornell University and the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC). Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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