Post by Peter J van Dijk

Mendel Post 10: BEYOND PEAS AND HAWKWEEDS CROSSES FROM A (AQUILEGIA) TO Z (ZEA). Mendel experimented with peas from 1856 to 1863 and, less famously, with hawkweeds from 1866 onward. The ten surviving letters to Nägeli reveal that he also made crosses in nearly thirty other species, belonging to genera ranging from Aquilegia to Zea. His aim was to test whether the laws of inheritance he had discovered in Pisum also applied to other species. He succeeded in three cases. Other crosses were complicated by sterility, complex patterns of inheritance, or then-unknown phenomena such as segregation distortion and polyploidy. In hawkweeds, he uncovered evidence for constant hybrids, now understood to result from apomixis. Mendel also investigated sex inheritance, pollen-tube competition, and polyspermy; subjects that would not be studied until decades later. The surviving letters to Nägeli offer a rare glimpse of the breadth and sophistication of Mendel's research and of the brilliance of the work that was lost with the destruction of his notebooks. I have been fascinated by Mendel since secondary school, so it is especially rewarding to be writing a book on his genetics with the great pea geneticist Noel Ellis. The book will be published later this year by De Gruyter Brill. Many myths surround Mendel, along with persistent misinterpretations and newly uncovered historical sources. In the coming months, I’ll share regular posts here exploring these. #Mendel #GregorMendel #Genetics #HistoryOfScience #PlantScience #Botany #Inheritance #ScienceHistory #Evolution #PlantBreeding