(C) Genes are unit of heredity transmitted from parents to offspring. Each parent has a gene pair in each cell for each characteristic studied. One member of the gene pair segregates into a gamete, thus each gamete only carries one member of the gene pair from each parent and hence only one out of a pair of contrasted characters is represented in a gamete by its gene. When sperm fertilizes the egg, they form a zygote which develops to an organism having characteristics from both the parents which it would have inherited in the gametes through segregation.