G.J. Mendel conducted an experiment using garden peas in which he took plants of different heights and characters and produced progeny from them. He found that if he took two tall plants and produced progeny from them, then the F1 generation plants were of tall height but in F2 generation plants of tall and dwarf heights were produced. This shows that both tallness and shortness traits were inherited by F1 but only tallness trait was expressed. Thus two copies of traits are inherited in each sexually reproducing organism. Thus Mendel in his experiment formulated that the characteristics and traits of the progeny are controlled by ‘factors’ which are now termed as genes. He also showed that traits are inherited independently.
