True-Breeding Lines & Mendel's Selection — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2020Mendel conducted such artificial pollination/cross pollination experiments using several true-breeding pea lines. A true-breeding line is one that, having undergone continuous self-pollination, shows the stable trait inheritance and expression for several generations. Mendel selected 14 true-breeding pea plant varieties, as pairs which were similar except for one character with contrasting traits. Some of the contrasting traits selected were smooth or wrinkled seeds, yellow or green seeds, inflated (full) or constricted green or yellow pods and tall or dwarf plants.
NTA focuses on why Mendel specifically chose 14 true-breeding pea varieties with contrasting traits. A true-breeding line is stable after continuous self-pollination, meaning it produces identical offspring for generations. Students often confuse true-breeding with simply being a pure line—remember, true-breeding requires proven stability over multiple generations. The key trap: mixing up which traits were contrasting (smooth vs. wrinkled, tall vs. dwarf) or forgetting that Mendel deliberately selected pairs differing in exactly ONE character. To score: memorize that Mendel's methodology depended on starting with genetically pure, stable parents to accurately observe inheritance patterns without environmental confusion.
This paragraph was tested 2 times in NEET.
How many true-breeding pea plant varieties did Mendel select as pairs, which were similar except in one character with contrasting traits? (NEET 2020)
Among the following characters, which one was not considered by Mendel in his experiments on pea? (NEET 2017)
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
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