<P> Plants are generally more capable of surviving, and indeed flourishing, as polyploids . In plants, polyploid individuals are created frequently by a variety of processes, and once created usually cannot cross back to the parental type . Polyploid individuals, if capable of self - fertilizing, can give rise to a new genetically distinct lineage, which can be the start of a new species . This is often called "instant speciation". Polyploids generally have larger fruit, an economically desirable trait, and many human food crops, including wheat, maize, potatoes, peanuts, strawberries and tobacco, are either accidentally or deliberately created polyploids . </P> <P> Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses . The main role of DNA molecules is the long - term storage of information . DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information . Geneticists, including plant geneticists, use this sequencing of DNA to their advantage as they splice and delete certain genes and regions of the DNA molecule to produce a different or desired genotype and thus, also producing a different phenotype . </P> <P> Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian priest and scientist born on 20 July 1822 in Austria - Hungary and is well known for discovering genetics . He went to the Abbey of St. Thomas in Brno . He is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants . Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows particular laws, which were later named after him . The significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century . Its rediscovery prompted the foundation of the discipline of genetics allows geneticists today to accurately predict the outcome of such crosses and in determining the phenotypical effects of the crosses . He died on 6 January 1884 from chronic nephritis . </P> <P> There are two predominant procedures of transforming genes in organisms: the "Gene gun" method and the Agrobacterium method . </P>

Who is credited with discovering the effect of genetics on plant characteristics