---
title: "Gregor Mendel"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:07:10.769171+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Modern analysis of the genes causing Mendel's pea phenotypes ===
Mendel postulated that seven "factors" determine the features he studied in peas. These factors are called "genes" today, but the nature of these genes remained mysterious for more than a century. The effort to identify these genes lasted until 2025 when the last 3 genes were discovered. The seven genes are as follows (genes are abbreviated PsXYZ for Pisum sativum, the scientific name of the pea): the wrinkled phenotype of peas (wild-type round) is caused by an insertion in the PsSBE1 gene. The yellow phenotype (wild-type: green) is caused by an insertion or mutation in the PsSGR gene. The white phenotype of the flower color (wild-type: purple) is caused by a deletion in the PsbHLH gene. The dwarf phenotype is caused by the PsGA3ox1 gene while the pod color phenotype (yellow vs. green) is caused by the PsChlG gene. Finally, the pod shape is determined by the PsCLE41 gene which causes the constricted or inflated phenotypes and the PsCIK2/3 gene causes the terminal and axial flower position.

=== Other experiments ===
Mendel also experimented with hawkweed (Hieracium). He published a report on his work with hawkweed, a group of plants of great interest to scientists at the time because of their diversity. However, the results of Mendel's inheritance study in hawkweeds were unlike those for peas; the first generation was very variable, and many of their offspring were identical to the maternal parent. In his correspondence with Carl Nägeli he discussed his results but was unable to explain them. It was not appreciated until the end of the nineteenth century that many hawkweed species were apomictic, producing most of their seeds through an asexual process.
Mendel appears to have kept animals at the monastery, breeding bees in custom-designed bee hives.  None of his results on bees survived, except for a passing mention in the reports of the Moravian Apiculture Society. All that is known definitely is that he used Cyprian and Carniolan bees, which were particularly aggressive, to the annoyance of other monks and visitors of the monastery, such that he was asked to get rid of them. Mendel, on the other hand, was fond of his bees and referred to them as "my dearest little animals".
After his death, Mendel's colleagues remembered that he bred mice, crossing varieties of different size, although Mendel has left no record of any such work.  A persistent myth has developed that Mendel turned his attention to plants only after Napp declared it unseemly for a celibate priest to closely observe rodent sex.  In a 2022 biography, Daniel Fairbanks argued that Napp could hardly have given such a pronouncement, as Napp personally oversaw sheep breeding on the monastery's extensive agricultural estate. 
Mendel also studied astronomy and meteorology, founding the 'Austrian Meteorological Society' in 1865. The majority of his published works were related to meteorology.
He also described novel plant species, and these are denoted with the botanical author abbreviation "Mendel".