The work of Gregor Mendel provided an answer to two prevailing hypotheses popular at the time. What were these two hypotheses?
A) Mitosis is only typical in vertebrates. Meiosis is only typical in invertebrates.
B) The two major hypotheses of the time were blending inheritance and inheritance of acquired characteristics.
C) Animals use one set of rules for inheritance, and plants use a different set.
D) Peas and other domestic plants are unsuited for studies of inheritance, but wild plants are perfectly suited.
E) Self-fertilization is the rule in plants, whereas cross-fertilization is the rule in animals.

Question

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The two prevailing hypotheses at the time were blending inheritance, which proposed that the traits of the parents would blend together in the offspring, and inheritance of acquired characteristics, which suggested that traits acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed down to their offspring. Mendel's work showed that neither of these hypotheses was completely accurate, and instead proposed the idea of discrete inherited factors (now known as genes) that follow specific patterns of inheritance.

The Work of Gregor Mendel Provided an Answer to Two