Was the action of transposable elements predicted by Mendel's experiment?

Answer 1

No. If Mendel's pea plants had transposons hopping around, it would have potentially caused phenotypes to appear that shouldn't have in that particular cross.

For example, if a transposon hopped into the dominant gene of a heterozygous organism, then the organism would display the recessive trait even thought it shouldn't.

I don't know, maybe Mendel's laws can be interpereted in such a way that they do predict transposable elements, but I don't see it that way. Added bonus, my genetics text book doesn't mention any connection, either.

If his work did predict transposable elements, Barbara McClintock's life would have been a lot easier.

Answer 2

Hi. I think that was the point. His seven pea characteristics were changed. Observation led to understanding. Did HE predict the characteristics of a cross? I don't know.