Genetics: Definition, History, and Application
 Genetics = heredity + variation
 Greek word “Gen” = to become or to grow
 Coined by William Bateson (1906)
History:
1. Hippocrates and Aristotle
 Theory of Pangenesis = formation of traits
 “Gemmules” or semen = produced in the
different parts of the body. There is gemmules
in each part of the body that carries the specific
trait
2. Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
 Theory of inheritance of acquired
characteristics
 Everything that can be found in the parents can
be passed to its offspring (giraffe experiment)
Giraffe
Gene = 2 alleles DD DR RR
Trait: type of neck – long neck (D) LL, Ll
-Short neck (R) ll
Parents:
Short x short = short necked
Short x long = long and short necked
Long x long = long and short necked
- Because of the concept of dominant and recessive
trait
3. August Weismann
 Contradicts theory of pangenesis
 Introduces Germplasm Theory
 Germplasm is found in the sex cells (sperm or
egg cells)
4. Gregor Mendel
 Austrian monk
 Garden Peas (experiment for color and texture)
 Mendelian factor (gene) = one that carries the
traits of an individual
 Father of Genetics
 He introduced the mathematical basis of
transmission of traits
 Hereditary characteristics were determined by
elementary units or genes transmitted between
generations in uniform predictable fashion
Attributes of the Gene:
 Gene is inherited from generation to
generation in such fashion that each progeny
has a physical copy of his material
 Gene provides information regarding the
structure, function, and other biological
properties of the individual
5. Friedrich Miescher – successfully isolated
nuclein a compound that includes nucleic acid from
pus cells obtain from discarded bandages
6. Walther Flemming – discovered mitosis (
prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase)
7. Carl Correns, Erick von Tschermak, and Hugo
de Vries - re-proved and re-experimented
Mendel’s theory and study on garden peas and
used other species like Maize, Primrose, Poppies
and other flowering plants.
- Focuses their work in plants, they did the mono
and di hybrid cross like Mendel did
8. William Bateson, Edith Rebecca, Sanders &
Lucien Cuenot - Experimented on Animals,
whereas same ration is obtained. They also did the
mono and di hybrid cross like Mendel did.
9. Walter Sutton and Theodore Boveri - Study
about chromosomes and meiosis using fruit fly.
Nucleic acid = DNA and RNA
Genes is a part of chromosome
Genes is: (1)unit of hereditary (2)trait (3 segment of
DNA
Chromosome: (1)double helix strand (2)DNA + protein
(3)packaging characteristics DNA + histones
10. Edmund Wilson and Nellie Stevens -
Discovered and identify the X and Y chromosomes
- Propose the idea that separate X and Y
chromosomes determine sex (XX female and XY
male)
11. William Bateson and Reginald Crudell Punnett
- Demonstrated that some genes modify the action
of other genes, called “Gene modifier”.
- Modifier gene = has the ability to alter
expression to enhance or inhibit.
12. Wilhelm Johannsen - Coined the term “genes” to
describe the carrier of heredity.
13. Thomas Hunt Morgan and Calvin Bridge -
Proved that a chromosome contained not one but
many genes.
14. Fredrick Griffith - Focused on the Molecular
aspect of heredity. Trying to prove the DNA.
15. Oswald Avery, Colin Mac Leod, and Maclyn
Mc Carty - Identified the transforming agent as
the genetic material of an organism.
- Used ‘restriction enzymes’ – capable of
degrading another compound or molecule.
- Restriction enzymes:
o RNAse – degrades RNA.
o DNAse – degrades DNA.
o Lipase – degrades lipids