During the 1800s, Gregor Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants. His work showed that organisms inherit traits from their parents and that some traits are dominant over others. Mendel's work was ignored for a long time because scientists could not explain how traits were carried from one generation to the next. What discovery provided scientists with a way to explain Mendel's work?

Question

During the 1800s, Gregor Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants. His work showed that organisms inherit traits from their parents and that some traits are dominant over others. Mendel's work was ignored for a long time because scientists could not explain how traits were carried from one generation to the next. What discovery provided scientists with a way to explain Mendel's work?
A. 
ribonucleic acids

B. 
cells

C. 
atoms

D. 
Punnett squares

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The discovery that provided scientists with a way to explain Mendel's work was A. ribonucleic acids (RNAs).

Mendel's principles of inheritance were not fully understood until the discovery of DNA and the genetic code, which includes ribonucleic acids as part of the processes of transcription and translation. This molecular understanding of genetics allowed scientists to better understand how traits are inherited at the cellular level.