Researchers discover how corn breaks genetics laws

Modern genetics is based on the idea that genes are passed on to progeny in a predictable fashion, as first described by 19th-century Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel. He determined that genes exist in pairs, and each one of the two has an equal chance of being transmitted to the next generation.However, in rare exceptions, chromosomes are able to cheat this process and are passed on at a higher frequency.It may come as a surprise that many heirloom varieties of corn contain just such a cheater. Called Abnormal chromosome 10, it cheats in the female part of the flower during meiosis, where it is regularly transmitted about 75 percent of the time instead of the normal 50 percent.