Describe the two mendelians laws of inheritance and discuss to what Essay

Describe the two mendelians laws of inheritance and discuss to what extent an X linked genes do not follow mendelian laws - Essay Example The two alternative forms of a factor are known as alleles and the genotype of an individual is made up from these alleles(Mueller et al, 2001) . Thus, every trait is governed by 2 alleles, one maternal and the other paternal. The genetic make up of any cell with reference to a particular trait is known as genotype and any observable trait like color, etc is known as phenotype. The Mendel Laws are based on the above facts and they are described below. The first law is the Law of Segregation, according to which, when an individual produces gametes, each gamete received only one copy of the genes. Thus, a single gamete will receive either one or the other allele. During random fertilization of gametes, the alleles unite again and the product has 2 sets of genes. When a particular gene has both recessive and dominant allelles, incomplete dominance occurs (Nussbaum et al, 2004). The expression of the phenotype is morphed by the expression of berth dominant and recessive alleles (Biology online). The second law is the Law of Independent Assortment. This is also know as the Inheritance Law. According to this law, alleles of different genes undergo independent assortment of one another during the formation of gametes (Jorde et al, 1995). Different traits are inherited independently of each other, with no relationship to each other with regard to inheritance.