From Mendel to epigenetics: History of genetics

Abstract

The origins of genetics are to be found in Gregor Mendel's memoir on plant hybridization (1865). However, the word 'genetics' was only coined in 1906, to designate the new science of heredity. Founded upon the Mendelian method for analyzing the products of crosses, this science is distinguished by its explicit purpose of being a general 'science of heredity', and by the introduction of totally new biological concepts (in particular those of gene, genotype, and phenotype). In the 1910s, Mendelian genetics fused with the chromosomal theory of inheritance, giving rise to what is still called 'classical genetics'. Within this framework, the gene is simultaneously a unit of function and transmission, a unit of recombination, and of mutation. Until the early 1950s, these concepts of the gene coincided. But when DNA was found to be the material basis of inheritance, this congruence dissolved. Then began the venture of molecular biology, which has never stopped revealing the complexity of the way in which hereditary material functions.

Familial Dysalbuminemic Hyperthyroxinemia (FDH), Albumin Gene Variant (R218S), and Risk of Miscarriages in Offspring

“…Among the family members who received screening, the probability for offspring who inherited the pathogenic variant was approximately 87%, much higher than any other autosomal dominant diseases. 15,16 Previous studies of smaller FDH pedigree and short duration of follow-up may have underestimated the heritability 8,17 and missed the clinical phenotype of miscarriage.…”

Exceeding Hrdlička's aims: 100 Years of genetics in anthropology

“…Hrdlička appears not to have expected much from genetics in addressing issues relevant to physical anthropology. He never used the term “genetics” in this major essay, for example, though the word and its meaning were coined in 1905 by William Bateson (Gayon, , p. 226). Shultz () observed that Hrdlička had little interest in genetics, likely because he had only an elementary command of mathematics, and little background in biology.…”

A non-Lamarckian model for the inheritance of the epigenetically-coded phenotypic characteristics: a new paradigm for Genetics, Genomics and, above all, Ageing studies

“…To further discuss the concept of biological information, one has to go deeper into the history of both genetics and epigenetics. Some reviews are available for this: among others see the following references: (Goldberg et al, 2007;Portin, 2014;Allis and Jenuwein, 2016;Gayon, 2016). Bateson marks the start of genetic studies as the science to study heredity (Bateson et al, 1902).…”