Question

Describe Mendel's Law of Dominance.

Hint:

The Law of Dominance was one of Mendel's foundational contributions to the understanding of inheritance patterns.

Answer 1

Step 1: Definition of Law of Dominance.
Mendel's Law of Dominance states that when two contrasting alleles (dominant and recessive) are present in an individual, only the dominant allele is expressed in the phenotype. The recessive allele is masked in the presence of the dominant allele.
Step 2: Mendel's experiments.
Mendel performed experiments on pea plants, crossing plants with different traits (e.g., tall vs. dwarf). He observed that when a homozygous dominant plant was crossed with a homozygous recessive plant, all F1 offspring showed the dominant trait, demonstrating the dominance of one allele over the other.
Step 3: Conclusion.
Thus, Mendel concluded that one allele could mask the expression of the other, and that dominant alleles are expressed in the phenotype, while recessive alleles are only expressed when both alleles are recessive.
Final Answer: \[ \boxed{\text{Mendel's Law of Dominance states that the dominant allele masks the expression of the recessive allele.}} \]