How does Mendel's law of segregation state that alleles are distributed?

Mendel's law of segregation describes how alleles for a trait segregate during the formation of gametes. According to this law, each individual carries two alleles for a particular trait, one inherited from each parent. During meiosis, these alleles separate so that each gamete only receives one allele from each pair.

When considering a simple trait with two alleles, such as one dominant and one recessive, the law of segregation leads to the conclusion that during gamete formation, each allele is equally likely to be passed on. This means that in a typical monohybrid cross, where two heterozygous individuals are crossed (e.g., Aa x Aa), the resulting alleles in the gametes are distributed equally, resulting in a 50% chance for each allele – either the dominant or the recessive.

Therefore, the correct interpretation of how alleles are distributed according to Mendel's law of segregation is that they are distributed randomly, with a 50/50 ratio in terms of the likelihood of passing each allele to the next generation. This principle is foundational to understanding inheritance patterns in genetics.