Question

The F2 generation is conventionally produced by random union of the F1 gametes.
A) True
B) False

Answer 1

Hint: The term F1 means ‘first filial generation’ and the term F2 stands for ‘second filial generation’. These terms were introduced by Gregor Johan Mendel who was also the first scientist to formulate the laws of inheritance.

Complete answer:
Mendel formulated three laws of inheritance by carrying out experiments with garden pea. He chose pea for his experiments due to various reasons such as- pea plant bred true, many varieties of them were available and their pollination could be easily manipulated. Mendel carried out the experiment with seven observable characteristics of pea plant- seed color, seed texture, height of plant, flower color, pod color, pod shape and arrangement of flowers. He used two terms- dominant and recessive to distinguish between the two contrasting characters.

Dominant characters were the ones which expressed themselves whenever present and recessive characters were ones which were expressed only when both the characters were recessive. At first he crossed the two parent plants which gave rise to the F1 offspring. These F1 offspring were then crossed among themselves to give the F2 generation. So the F2 generation is actually produced by the random union of the F1 gametes.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: Mendel’s laws of inheritance gave the first basic idea of inheritance and was accepted worldwide, though later it was found that deviation from these laws occurs in some cases. The three laws of inheritance proposed by Mendel are- law of dominance, law of segregation and law of independent assortment.