Principle of Independent Assortment – Classic Mendelian Genetics

00:01 From the monohybrid cross, we got segregation. The principle of independent assortment is saying yes segregation happens, but each trait does so independently of the other trait. The principle of independent assortment states that in our language of meiosis and chromosomes, during meiosis I, chromosome alignment is random on the metaphase plate such that these chromosomes can segregate from each other independently of other factors.When we do take a look at meiosis, we can see that it is this random alignment of chromosome pairs on the metaphase plate of meiosis I that really support Mendel's principle of independent assortment. Again each pair segregates from each independently of the next pair because they align randomly on the metaphase plate where we could have all the blue ones on one side, red ones on the other side or some shuffling of that same layout we are just having two separate from each other. In closing the first lecture introducing us to genetics and exploration of Mendel, you should now be able to describe what we knew before Mendel as well as evaluate the outcomes of mono and dihybrid crosses. We should be able to relate these to movement of chromosomes during meiosis as well as differentiate between the principle of segregation and the principle of independent assortment. Thank you so much for listening. I look forward to seeing you in the next lecture.