Mendelian Genetics Video

The video presented by Paul Anderson expounds on simple Mendelian genetics. He briefly introduces Gregor Mendel and describes his experiments of crossing pea plants with different physical features and studying the offspring to identify the link with the parents (Anderson, 2016). The video discusses the findings of the experiments and the resultant laws of segregation and independent assortment developed. The video also presents practice problems on genetic crossing along with their answers. Additionally, the video discusses Huntingtons disease as a genetic disorder and its transmission across generations. Finally, the video highlights some of the ethical and privacy concerns associated with Mendels discoveries and laws.

If this sample essay on"Mendelian Genetics Video" doesn’t help,
our writers will!

Trust an expert

According to the video, Mendel crossed purple flowered with white ones to get the F1 generation which yielded only purple flowers. He further crossed the F1 generation amongst themselves to get a ration three purple flowers and one white in the offspring (Anderson, 2016). These led to the identification of various traits or genes passed down the lineage. The purple gene is dominant while the white one is recessive (Anderson, 2016). The video uses a Punnett square to identify the crossing of the parent genes to yield the offspring. The square is an easy way of solving the sample problems in the video. It helps in the identification of the genetic composition, the phenotype and the ratio of getting the different traits in the offspring.

Mendel identified the law of segregation and that of independent assortment. The law of segregation entails an equal probability for two members of a gene pair to form an offspring (McClean, 2000). Alleles separate from each other in the formation of an offspring (Hassan, 2005). According to the video, half of the offspring have one allele while the other half carries the other one. The video also describes Mendels the law of independent assortment where two or more characteristics assort independently during gamete production with no influence on each other (Hassan, 2005). Therefore, different traits have an equal opportunity of occurring together in an offspring.

In conclusion, the video discusses the implication of Mendels discoveries on the existence of a disease. Huntingtons disease causes degeneration of the nerve fiber leading to uncontrollable shakes. The disease results from having the dominant trait H (Anderson, 2016). The condition has a half chance of being transmitted from a parent, thus, can be traced using pedigree. The lack of treatment of the disease presents a complex ethical dilemma to the patient. Additionally, Mendelian genetics also raise the issue of privacy and confidentiality. A person with a certain trait may not feel comfortable revealing it to an insurance company as this may lead to higher premiums.

References

Anderson, P. (2016). Mendelian Genetics. YouTube. Retrieved 5 May 2016, from https://youtu.be/NWqgZUnJdAY

Hasan, H. (2005). Mendel and the laws of genetics. New York: Rosen Pub. Group.

McClean, P. (2000). Mendelian Genetics. Ndsu.edu. Retrieved 5 May 2016, from https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/mendel/mendel1.htm