Greetings, Mister Principal

Chapter 164: Law of Inheritance

Morale Support: Scherzo

Patreon: /ScherzoTranslations

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In the greenhouse, the thriving peas with some droplets of dew were growing. The morning fog had not yet dissipated when Reiner and several students arrived to inspect the situation of the third generation peas.

They first approached field number 7, which was larger than the others. Peas densely populated the field, flourishing.

“Ah…”

Upon seeing this field, Dana couldn’t help but let out a small exclamation.

“As expected, there are both tall-stemmed and short-stemmed peas.”

Charlotte nodded. In this field, seeds of uniformly tall-stemmed peas had produced two entirely different traits.

“The traits that didn’t appear in the previous generation have manifested in this one. This suggests that the bloodline factors are not merged or assimilated, but coexist.”

Fina muttered to herself. The experimental phenomenon clearly validated the earlier hypothesis that different bloodline factors inherited from the parental generation were distinctly expressed in the next generation.

“So, the bloodline factor of tall-stemmed peas is indeed more dominant than that of short-stemmed peas. If these two bloodline factors combine, peas will exhibit a more dominant trait. However, the weaker bloodline factor doesn’t disappear. In further generations, the weaker factor may reappear.”

Charlotte concluded with enlightenment.

“Perhaps we should tally the number of tall-stemmed and short-stemmed pea plants in this field. We might gain further insights.”

Reiner didn’t state directly but offered this method as a suggestion.

“Good idea.”

Fina nodded and, without further words, walked to the side to start counting.

The three dispersed, each counting the plants in their designated areas. In less than half an hour, they gathered the results.

“There are 167 tall-stemmed pea plants and 56 short-stemmed pea plants… the number of tall-stemmed peas is significantly higher.”

Dana looked at the recorded numbers and spoke softly.

“The ratio between these two types is close to three to one. There seems to be some pattern…”

Fina mused, already engaging in calculations in her mind.

Subconsciously, she placed her fingers on her lips as she contemplated. Her frameless glasses reflected the ambiguous sunlight filtered through the greenhouse dome. Then, with a sudden realization, Fina hurried back to the table and started writing with her pen.

“If we assume the bloodline factor for tall-stemmed peas is ‘A,’ and for short-stemmed peas is also ‘a,’ then purebred tall-stemmed peas should be ‘AA.’ Similarly, purebred short-stemmed peas should be ‘aa.’ The second-generation peas resulting from their crossbreeding would be ‘Aa.'”

She used ancient runes to represent dominant and recessive bloodline factors.

“According to the experimental results, as long as the bloodline factor ‘A’ is present in peas, they will exhibit the tall-stemmed trait. There is no external difference between ‘AA’ and ‘Aa,’ but only ‘aa’ peas will display the short-stemmed trait.”

“In that case, the third-generation bloodline factors obtained through self-pollination of the second-generation ‘Aa’ peas, uh, based on permutations and combinations…”

Dana struggled a bit with her calculations.

“‘AA’, two types of ‘Aa’, and ‘aa’. Four possible combinations, the final trait ratio presented is exactly three to one.”

Charlotte quickly answered the issue for Dana.

“So, going back to our initial topic, traits not present in the parental generation may appear in the offspring, and traits present in the parental generation may not appear in the offspring. The current experimental results completely support this hypothesis.”

Reiner smiled and summarized. He had already deduced the answer upon seeing the plant conditions in the field; now, he was reiterating it in a language understandable to the students.

“Now, our understanding is that bloodline factors control the external characteristics of a species. Bloodline factors exist in pairs, with a distinction between dominant and recessive. When both types of bloodline factors are present, the species will exhibit dominant traits. Also, during the inheritance of bloodline factors to the next generation, they will be randomly and freely distributed in combinations. This can be used to separate dominant and recessive bloodline factors.”

The short-stemmed peas appearing in this field were actually purely ‘aa’. Similarly, tall-stemmed peas can be purebred in the next planting, making this method much more sophisticated and faster than cultivating purebreds without theoretical support, especially the dominant ones, which would take a long time and be highly inefficient.

“Now, let’s examine the situation in field number 8.”

In field number 8, there were tall-stemmed and short-stemmed peas, however he had also conducted the peas in this field differently. Here, peas had both round or wrinkled surfaces.

“These are the third-generation peas obtained by crossbreeding the second-generation peas with smooth surfaces from tall-stemmed plants and wrinkled surfaces from short-stemmed plants. The second-generation peas were all tall-stemmed with round surfaces. Applying the previous theory, the round surface is the dominant bloodline factor compared to the wrinkled surface.”

Reiner asked the three students to again tally the plant conditions in this field. This time, it took longer as they needed to examine the condition of the peas themselves. After a full hour and a half, they obtained the final results.

“192 tall-stemmed peas with round surfaces, 63 tall-stemmed peas with wrinkled surfaces, 64 short-stemmed peas with round surfaces, and 22 short-stemmed peas with wrinkled surfaces… the ratio of the four traits is close to 9:3:3:1…”

Charlotte calculated, and the three of them quickly began deducing and analyzing the reasons for this phenomenon on paper.

About ten minutes later, Fina was the first to arrive at an answer.

“If we categorize these plants, the ratio between tall-stemmed and short-stemmed is three to one, and the ratio between round and wrinkled surfaces is also three to one. In terms of individual traits, the original separation ratio is maintained. The current distribution is actually the result of the free combination of these two traits!”

“…This indicates that the inheritance of tall-stems and short-stems, round and wrinkled surfaces is independent and does not affect each other. Tall-stemmed peas with round surfaces may produce short-stemmed peas with wrinkled surfaces, completely different from the previous generation.”

Charlotte nodded, then continued.

“By extension, if there are three, four, or even more types of traits, similar results may occur. If all external traits of a species are controlled by bloodline factors, then offspring may exhibit completely different characteristics from the parental generation!”

This is exactly what happened to Elymia!