Mendel carried out his research on garden peas. You should remember that he used seven pairs of traits. Modern geneticists have mapped the genes for Mendel's pairs of traits. Two of them are on chromosome 1, yet when Mendel carried out a dihybrid cross using these genes, his results led him to the conclusion that they assorted independently. This makes sense if:A. the two genes on chromosome 1 are more than 50 mu apart.B. the two genes on chromosome 1 are very close together.C. the two genes on chromosome 1 are at least 20 mu apart.D. the two genes on chromosome 1 never recombine.

Two or more genes present on the same chromosomes are the linked genes. Linked genes do not assort independently and do not exhibit crossing over. Therefore, the linkage of genes results in deviations from Mendel's law of independent assortment. However, if the linked genes are present far from each other on the same chromosome, they may exhibit crossing over.

The greater the distance between the linked genes, the higher are the chances of crossing over. Crossing over of linked genes would result in some of the progeny to have the new gene combinations as it occurs during an independent assortment of two genes. Therefore, Mendel observed an independent assortment of two genes present together on chromosome 1 since they were present far apart from each other (more than 50 mu apart).