Texas A&M University (TAMU) BIMS 320 Biomedical Genetics Exam 1 Practice

Mendel's laws describe how genes (alleles) are inherited during sexual reproduction. When organisms have a diploid stage and undergo meiosis, alleles for each gene segregate into gametes, and, if genes are unlinked, their inheritance patterns segregate independently. These predictable patterns show up not only in pea plants but in many plants and in some animals as well, so the idea generalizes beyond just the original experiment. The reason the option about all plants and a few animals is the best fit among the choices is that Mendelian inheritance is common enough across plants and several animal species to be taught as a broad rule, even though there are many exceptions in nature (such as polyploidy, gene linkage, haploid life stages, or non-Mendelian inheritance scenarios).