Genetics Sublime : Santeria

Genetics. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Here's a breif history of genetics.

Back in the day, about 1857-1865, a monk in the town of Brunn, Czech Republic, was messing with the pea plants in his garden. He arrived to the basic principles of heredity. Gregor Mendel's experiments gave us the basic theory of genetics which is a basis for todays modern theory of genetics. Basically, he bred plants for which he thought had opposing pure "factors". Then he discovered all showed one trait. When he bred the offspring, a ratio of three to one appeared in the factors. He came to the Law of Dominance which stated that when an organism is hybrid for a pair of contrasting traits, only the dominant trait can be seen in the hybrid. He also came to the Law of Segregation whis states that factors that occur in pairs are seperated from each other during gamete formation and recombined at fertilization.

Today, we have learned much more. W.S. Sutton, by observing grasshopper sperm, concluded that the traits, or genes, are carried by chromosomes. This is the gene-chromosome theory. To do test crosses of traits, we have the pundit square:

Then in modern genetics, we have learned about sex linked traits, traits carried on either the male or the female chromosome, and what genes are. We have learned that chromosomes are made of DNA, and DNA is made of sugars, phosphates, and nucleic acids. We have learned how dna replicates, how proteins are produced, and how genes are expressed. Today, scientists know how to go in and change this basic instruction manual of life.

To learn more about genetics, cells, and more advanced topics, go to the MIT biology textbook .