George Johonn Mendel, was a great scientist who lived from
1822 to 1884. At an early age he began experimenting with plants
by growing different varieties of garden peas. He developed a theory
of heredity, which is the foundation of human genetic transmission
even today.
Using Mendel's theory I can explain my own hair color and how
I came to inherit it. I have black hair. How I got it has everything to
do with my genes. A gene is a complicated segment of a DNA
molecule, which is an intricate part of a single cell - the building
block of life itself. For every gene I got from my father I have one
that I got from my mother, even though most people argue that I
look just like my mother. This is because there are two different
types of genes, dominant and recessive. Dominant genes are
stronger then recessive genes.
Mendel has a law that states that
some characteristics are predominant. These dominant genes take
precedence over recessive genes whenever they are present.
Recessive genes, being then the weaker of the two, only become a
characteristic when matched with another recessive gene.
Here is how I came to have black hair: My father has black
hair and my mother has blonde hair. Black hair is dominant and
blonde hair is recessive so I have black hair. There is a possibility
that I could have still had blonde hair if my father had a parent who
had blonde hair. (I do not know my grandparents hair colors) Just
like me, my parents each got one gene from their mothers, and one
gene from their fathers that would determine their hair color. This is
referring to genotype. Genotype describes the genes an individual
posses whether they are visible or not.
Not so great
This paper is ok for a lower level instituation, but it makes a lot generalizations that aren't true for Ie. "For every gene I got from my father I have one that I got from my mother, even though most people argue that I look just like my mother." - this isn't true... some genes are sex linked, and can only be inherited by males... some genes are epistatic - and one trait may mask another trait... some genes show incomplete inheritance... partial inheritance etc... this paper also fails to mention recombination or mutation - random change in DNA... so not all genes such as hair color are in fact inherited from your parents... any scientist would rip this paper apart because its not very thorough... sorry.
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