What is the genetic basis of heredity

Gregor Mendel

 He came to three important conclusions from these experimental results:

1. that the inheritance of each trait is determined by "units" or "factors" that are passed on to descendents unchanged(these units are now called genes ) 2. that an individual inherits one such unit from each parent for each trait 3. that a trait may not show up in an individual but can still be passed on to the next generation. Mendel's observations from these experiments can be summarised in two principles: The principle of segregation The principle of independent assortment According to the principle of segregation, for any particular trait, the pair of alleles of each parent separate and only one allele passes from each parent on to an offspring. Which allele in a parent's pair of alleles is inherited is a matter of chance. We now know that this segregation of alleles occurs during the process of sex cell formation (i.e. meiosis ).

Only in 1900, sixteen years after Mendels death, three botanist Hugo De Vries, Carl Correns and Erich Tschermak independently repeated and verified Mendels work.

Walther Flemming Describes Chromosomes

His work provided an invaluable description of the initial mechanisms underlying the process of cell division, and it helped paved the way for the discovery of hereditary mechanisms. n 1879 Walther Flemming had discovered chromosomes and mitosis in salamander.

Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri Chromosomal theory of inheritance

Walter Sutton Theodor Boveri

Work on Grasshopper

Work on Roundworm

Chromosome theory of heredity: the idea that genes are parts of chromosomes.
Some evidence that supported the theory: chromosomes are present in pairs, one member of the pair received from each parent. - The number of chromosomes is consistent from cell to cell within an organism but varies between organisms The behaviour of the chromosomes at meiosis correlates with the behaviour of Mendels hypothetical Factor I may finally call attention to the probability that the association of paternal and maternal chromosomes in pairs and their subsequent separation during the reducing division may constitute the physical basis of the Mendelian law of heredity

 But how to correlate chromosomes to trait??? T.H. Morgan demonstrated that 1 of 4 pair of chromosomes determines sex and colorless white eyes in fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster

Thomas Hunt Morgan Experimentally Demonstrates Chromosome Theory

Nobel Prize in 1933

All red male and females

3:1 ratio of red:white, but all white were males

Morgan concluded that the white-eye trait followed a sex-linked pattern of inheritance.

1:1:1:1 ratio and white female is not lethal.

All white males and all red females

But what is the chemical composition of the hereditary material?

 Johannsen- Coined the term Gene Meischer- Nuclein (rich in phosphorus) Levene- chemical components of nuclein, termed it DNA Feulgen- DNA stain, easy to detect DNA Mirsky- Quantitated amount of DNA in Sex cells and Zygote

 Groundbreaking experiments by Griffith, Avery, Hershey, and Chase disproved the notion that proteins were genetic material.

Frederick Griffith Discovers Bacterial Streptococcus pneumoniae Transformation

DNA Is Identified as the Transforming Principle Oswald Avery, Mc Leod and McCarty

Hershey and Chase Prove that DNA but not Protein Is the Hereditary Material

 Search for the genetic basis of heredity ends: DNA discovered as the basis of heredity and variation.

Summary
Blood Theory of Inheritence Mendel (Factors) European Botanists (confirmed Mendels work) Flemming describes chromosomes Sutton (similarity between Mendels factors and chromosomes) Morgan (confirmed the chromosomal theory of inheritence theory) Johannsen- Coined the term Gene Meischer- Nuclein (rich in phosphorus) Levene- chemical components of nuclein, termed it DNA Feulgen- DNA stain, easy to detect DNA Mirsky- Quantitated amount of DNA in Sex cells and Zygote Griffith, Alloway, Avery-DNA is the transforming factor Hershey and Chase-DNA as the agent of inheritence

 http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/d eveloping-the-chromosome-theory-164
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/is olating-hereditary-material-frederick-griffithoswald-avery-336