MENDELS LAW

1. Law of Segregation (the "First Law")

The Law of Segregation states that every individual contains a pair of alleles for each
particular trait which segregate or separate during cell division(assuming diploidy) for
any particular trait and that each parent passes a randomly selected copy (allele) to its
offspring. The offspring then receives its own pair of alleles of the gene for that trait by
inheriting sets of homologous chromosomes from the parent organisms. Interactions
between alleles at a single locus are termed dominance and these influence how the
offspring expresses that trait (e.g. the color and height of a plant, or the color of an
animal's fur). Book definition: The law of segregation states that the two alleles for a
heritable character segregate (separate from each other) during gamete formation and end
up in different gametes.
2. Law of Independent Assortment (the "Second Law")
The Law of Independent Assortment, also known as "Inheritance Law", states that
separate genes for separate traits are passed independently of one another from parents to
offspring. That is, the biological selection of a particular gene in the gene pair for one
trait to be passed to the offspring has nothing to do with the selection of the gene for any
other trait. More precisely, the law states that alleles of different genes assort
independently of one another during gamete formation.
3. Law of Dominance (the "Third Law")
Mendel's Law of Dominance states that recessive alleles will always be masked by
dominant alleles. Therefore, a cross between a homozygous dominant and a homozygous
recessive will always express the dominant phenotype, while still having a heterozygous
genotype. Law of Dominance can be explained easily with the help of a mono hybrid
cross experiment:- In a cross between two organisms pure for any pair (or pairs) of
contrasting traits (characters), the character that appears in the F1 generation is called
"dominant" and the one which is suppressed (not expressed) is called "recessive." Each
character is controlled by a pair of dissimilar factors. Only one of the characters
expresses. The one which expresses in the F1 generation is called Dominant.
Example of Dihybrid Cross
In contrast to a monohybrid cross, a dihybrid cross is a cross between F
1
offspring (first-
generation offspring) of two individuals that differ in two traits of particular interest. For
example: RRyy/rrYY or RRYY/rryy parents result in F
1
offspring that are heterozygous for both
R and Y (RrYy).
[1]

The rules of meiosis, as they apply to the dihybrid, are codified in Mendel's first
law and Mendel's second law, which are also called the Law of Segregation and the Law of
Independent Assortment, respectively.
For genes on separate chromosomes, each allele pair shows independent segregation. If
the first filial generation (F
1
generation) produces four identical offspring, the second filial
generation, which occurs by crossing the members of the first filial generation, shows
a phenotypic (appearance) ratio of 9:3:3:1.