Genetics 1315 Neurospora is a genus of fungi that is widely studied by geneticists because of its life history. Its hyphae are haploid and the only cell in its life cycle that is diploid is the zygote. Each of the four meiotic products undergoes mitosis leading to an ascus containing 8 spores arranged in a linear fashion. Being able to preserve the arrangement of meiotic products is very useful.
Geneticists often make controlled matings to infer the underlying mode of inheritance for traits.
The physical or physiologically measurable expression of the genes is referred to as the phenotype . The underlying message is called the genotype . If an experimental cross is made to study a single phenotypic trait controlled by a single gene it is referred to as a monohybrid cross . Mendel was the first to correctly interpret the results of a monohybrid cross. Among the important things that Mendel s research indicated was that inheritance is particulate rather than blending.