Basic biological research has often been done with plants. In genetics, the breeding of pea plants allowed Gregor Mendel to derive the basic laws governing inheritance,[26] and examination of chromosomes in maize allowed Barbara McClintock to demonstrate their connection to inherited traits.[27] The plant Arabidopsis thaliana is used in laboratories as a model organism to understand how genes control the growth and development of plant structures.[28] Space stations or space colonies may one day rely on plants for life support.[29]