1. Rules of Heredity (1850s) Austrian monk and botanist Gregor Mendel discovers how genetic information is passed down through generations. In experiments performed on pea plants, he notices that characteristics of a plant's offspring, such as height, exhibit recessive and dominant behavior. Mendel's findings are ridiculed during his lifetime and he dies never knowing that he would come to be known as the "father of genetics." 2. Genes Are Located on Chromosomes (1910 -- 1920s) Thomas Hunt Morgan discovers that genes are located on chromosomes. Working on fruit flies, he concludes that certain traits are linked to gender and that those traits are probably carried on one of the sex chromosomes (X or Y). He hypothesizes that other genes are also carried on specific chromosomes. Using chromosome recombination, he and his students map the locations of genes on chromosomes. Morgan and his students write the seminal book The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity. 3. Genes Control Biochemical Events (1930) George Beadle and Edward Tatum discover through experiments on neurospora, a bread mold, that genes are responsible for the production of enzymes. Their report is the genesis of the "one gene-one enzyme" concept. 4. Some Genes Can Jump (1940) Barbara McClintock discovers transposons — genes that can jump on a chromosome — while seeking to explain color variations in corn. Transposons are segments of DNA that can move to different positions in the genome of a single cell. In the ...
Tags: greatest, genetics, discoveries, science, documentary, chromosome, dna, rna, cell, Vercamath
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