The Progression of Genetics from Gregor Mendel to Polymerase Chain Reaction

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The Progression of Genetics from Gregor Mendel to Polymerase Chain Reaction

Gregor Mendel is often recognised as the “Father of Genetics”. An Austrian monk who conducted experiments within the monastery garden to investigate inheritance and variation, Mendel cultivated and tested some 29000  plants between 1856 and 1863. His experiments brought forth two generalisations which later became known as Mendel's Laws of Heredity (or Mendelian inheritance). These are described in his paper "" and include The Law of Segregation, which explains the concepts of dominant and recessive alleles inherited from each parent, and The Law of Independent Assortment which concluded that different traits are inherited independently of each other. (1)

However, the significance of Mendel’s work was not realised until around 1900. Before this, in 1869 the Swiss biologist Friedrich Miescher was investigating leukocytes from pus-soaked bandages in order to isolate and study the nucleus. He subjected purified nuclei to an alkaline extraction followed by acidification resulting in a precipitate being formed which Miescher called nuclein, also discovering its composition of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur. The chemical was later renamed deoxyribonucleic acid. (2) (6)

After the rediscovery of Mendel’s research by other scientists, namely ,  and , further hypotheses were made regarding the existence, distribution and make-up chromosomes – leading to gene maps of  chromosomes being completed. (3)

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In 1918 Sir Ronald Fisher published "" marking the beginning of the modern evolutionary synthesis, or neo-Darwinism - generally denoting the integration of 's theory of the  of  by , 's theory of  as the basis for biological inheritance, random genetic mutation as the source of variation, and mathematical . At this point in scientific history theories were combining to piece together the fundamentals of living organisms. (4) (5)

The next two decades saw experimentation in order to further understanding of genetics, including the first case of transformation as Frederick Griffith showed the uptake and expression of foreign ...

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