LAW 122 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Seymour S. Kety, Phenotypic Trait, Nucleic Acid Structure
Document Summary
Our genetic endowment combines with environmental forces to determine our behavior. Hippocrates suggested that semen contains not body parts, but rather some sort of design for the formation of offspring. Gregor mendal, a monk whose research with garden peas in the 1860"s marked the beginning of modern genetic theory. Mendal showed that heredity involves the passing on of specific organic factors, not a simple blending of the parents" characteristics. The offspring of one set of parents do not all inherit the same traits as is evident in the differences we see among brothers and sisters. Genotype= the specific genetic makeup of an individual. Phenotype= the observable characteristics produced by that genetic endowment. Some are used at one occasion; others are never used at all, either because they are contradicted by other genetic directives or because the environment never calls them forth.