Question

How did Mendel use self-pollination and cross-pollination techniques in his experiments?

A) Self-pollination for true-breeding
B) Cross-pollination for hybridization
C) Both A and B
D) Neither A nor B

Answer 1

Mendel utilized self-pollination to establish true-breeding plants and cross-pollination for creating hybrids by manually transferring pollen. This approach allowed precise experiments in inheritance.

Step-by-step explanation:

Gregor Mendel used self-pollination and cross-pollination techniques in his experiments to study the inheritance of traits in pea plants. The correct answer to how Mendel used these techniques is C) Both A and B. Self-pollination was used for producing true-breeding plants, which are those that produce offspring with the same traits over several generations. These plants were critical for establishing consistent traits that Mendel could then use in his experiments. Cross-pollination, on the other hand, was performed for hybridization, which involves mating two true-breeding individuals with different traits to produce hybrid offspring. To perform cross-pollination, Mendel manually transferred pollen from the anther of one pea plant to the stigma of another, and to ensure that no self-pollination occurred, he removed the anthers from the plants he wanted to cross-pollinate.