Do you remember sitting in a Freshman Living Environment class in high school and learning of Mendelian genetics? At that time, we students learned that Mendel’s theory is fact, when in reality, it’s not. For those of you who are not quite as familiar with the subject matter, Mendelian genetics was created by a man by the name of Gregor Mendel. Mendel was a monk who discovered the secrets of inheritance by observing and breeding pea plants.

He came up with Mendelian genetics, which basically states that organisms inherit traits that are either dominant or recessive. The dominant traits are always expressed, while the recessive traits are only expressed when paired with another recessive allele. Each parent donates either a dominant or recessive allele to the offspring. There can be multiple alleles for one specific trait. Now, as I stated earlier, genetics are not quite as simple as this. There are other ways of inheriting certain traits. What Mendel didn’t know was that certain traits could actually blend together, for example, when it comes to the color of a flower, sometimes the dominant and recessive allele will blend together when they are paired with each other. This is called Incomplete Dominance.

There are also several other types of inheritance that Mendel was not able to account for simply because he only dealt with pea plants and because the technology at the time did not allow for much in-depth analysis of genetics. So, what can we conclude from this? Our 9th grade living environment teachers have lied to us! In reality, Mendelian genetics only work for a select group of traits! Traits such as being able to roll one’s tongue, having mid-digit hair, and having a cow lick, are all examples of Mendelian genetics. But this is only a minuscule part of actual genetics. The occurrence of linked genes also shows that Mendel was not 100% correct in his theory. To Mendel, traits were expressed based on the probability of certain alleles occurring with each other. This probability is usually random, but we can predict which alleles will be expressed with other alleles by using a punnett square. However, in reality you cannot actually predict the exact number of which alleles are expressed because of linked genes. Linked genes are genes that are inherited together because they are located on the same chromosome.

Because of linked genes, red heads are usually born with freckles, and blonds are usually born with blue eyes since the genes are located on the same chromosome. So, what can we learn from all of this? Don’t believe your 9th grade biology teachers, kids! You’ll only find out that you’re being lied to as you continue your education!