ANT203Y1 Lecture 4: The Study of Heredity (Mendel and Molecules)
Document Summary
Lecture 3: the study of heredity (mendel and molecules) Early explanations for trait transmission across generations included. Blending theory: inherited characteristics of children are intermediates between the same. Preformism characteristics from their mother and father awaiting stimulation by fertilization. : the idea that the individual, in miniature form, existed in either the ovum or sperm. Observation that traits tend to run in families. Particles present in the body were influenced by the organisms lifetime activities. The particles travelled down to the sex cells, modified them in such a way that acquired characteristics could now be passed on to progeny. Discovered how heredity worked: the units of heredity (now called genes: plant hybridization, traits of simple inheritance. He chose to study pea plants, selecting only plants that had characteristics in the binary. His work: (present or absent) but never had intermediates: chose pea plants because he had control over the traits he combined and could cross plants with itself (self-fertilization)