Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment states that “during gamete formation, different pairs of alleles segregate independently of each other.” Alleles are different versions of a particular gene which are found at the same chromosomal location and these alleles can either be dominant or recessive. Every individual has 2 alleles for every autosomal gene, one from dad and the other from mom. Parent cells undergo meiosis to create gametes that contain 50% of the genome of the parent, meaning only 1 of the 2 alleles is given to the offspring by each parent.

What Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment effectively states is that which one of these 2 alleles is given is entirely random. In addition, the particular allele given in one location does not affect which allele will be given at another location.

However, this only holds true for unlinked genes, because it is more likely for linked alleles to be inherited together.

Sources:

Nicole Lantz:    • Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortmen...  

Lewis, R. G., & Simpson, B. (2023). Genetics, Autosomal Dominant. In *StatPearls*. StatPearls Publishing.

Mackay, T. F. C., & Anholt, R. R. H. (2022). Gregor Mendel's legacy in quantitative genetics. *PLoS biology*, *20*(7), e3001692. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio....