Mendel's primary contribution to our understanding of genetic inheritance was

Options

A. the idea that genes are found on chromosomes.
B. providing a mechanism that explains patterns of inheritance.
C. describing how genes are influenced by the environment.
D. determining that the information contained in DNA codes for proteins.

Answer

### Step-by-Step Text Solution:

1. **Introduction to Mendel's Work**: Gregor Mendel, often referred to as the father of genetics, conducted experiments on pea plants in the mid-19th century. His work laid the foundation for the field of genetics.

2. **Mendel's Experiments**: Mendel performed a series of cross-breeding experiments with pea plants, focusing on traits such as flower color, seed shape, and pod color. He meticulously recorded the traits of the parent plants and their offspring.

3. **Discovery of Inheritance Patterns**: Through his experiments, Mendel discovered that traits are inherited in specific patterns. He formulated two key laws: the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment.

- **Law of Segregation**: This law states that during the formation of gametes, the two alleles for a trait segregate from each other, so that each gamete carries only one allele for each trait.

- **Law of Independent Assortment**: This law states that the alleles for different traits are distributed to gametes independently of one another.

4. **Concept of Dominance**: Mendel also introduced the concept of dominance, where some alleles are dominant over others. This means that the dominant allele will express its trait in the phenotype, while the recessive allele will only express its trait when paired with another recessive allele.

5. **Conclusion**: Mendel's primary contribution to our understanding of genetic inheritance was the establishment of the basic principles of heredity, which include the laws of segregation and independent assortment, as well as the concept of dominance. His work provided a scientific basis for understanding how traits are passed from one generation to the next.