15. How Sex Leads to Variation
This lecture continues the discussion of Mendels contributions to genetics, turning to subsequent experiments in which Mendel looked at the transmission of more than one trait, leading to his Law of Independent Assortment. The lecture summarizes independent assortment, linkage, and crossing over, all of which result from the way chromosomes and the genes located on them move during gamete formation and sexual reproduction. The lecture concludes by recapping the sources that contribute to genetic variation in the replication of DNA and the transmission of traits from one generation to the next, variation that is essential for evolution to occur.
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