What was Gregor Mendel's major contribution to our understanding of genetics?

• A. He discovered the structure of DNA.
• B. He formulated the laws of inheritance.
• C. He identified the process of natural selection.
• D. He developed the theory of evolution.

Answer: (B)

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1. Gregor Mendel is known as the father of genetics due to his pioneering work in understanding how traits are inherited from one generation to the next.
2. Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants, focusing on specific traits such as flower color and seed shape, to observe how these traits were passed down.
3. Through his experiments, Mendel formulated two fundamental laws of inheritance: the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment.
4. The Law of Segregation states that each organism carries two alleles for each trait, which segregate during gamete formation, ensuring that offspring receive one allele from each parent.
5. The Law of Independent Assortment explains that alleles for different traits are distributed to gametes independently, leading to genetic variation.