Scientists solve 160-year-old biology puzzle

Team from UK, China unveil genomic, genetic insights into Mendel's pea genes

A team of international scientists, mainly from China and the United Kingdom, has jointly identified the genetic variants behind all seven traits used by Austrian scientist Gregor Mendel more than 160 years ago to discover the basic laws of inheritance, solving a longstanding mystery in biology. The findings were published this week in the journal Nature.

The study — genomic and genetic insights into Mendel's pea genes — was led by Cheng Shifeng, a researcher of the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, alongside Noam Chayut and Noel Ellis, who are professors at the UK-based John Innes Centre.

By combining modern genomics, high-throughput phenotyping and computational biology, the team revisited Mendel's landmark 1865 experiments with garden peas.