Heredity Flashcards
What did the bible propose about fetal development and inheritance?
The experience’s of the mother during pregnancy could directly affect fetal development (ex: Elephant man).
What were the “gemmules” that Darwin proposed? How did they contribute to inheritance?
Molecules which were emitted by parts of the body and aggregated in the gonads, affecting offspring development.
Which of the ancients proposed an method of inheritance similar to Darwin’s pangenesis?
Hippocrates (or the Hippocratics).
What were Aristotle’s views on inheritance?
Form + Potential = Actuality.
What did Thinkers at Darwin’s time understand about hybridization?
That hybridizations between different animals could yield offspring species which were intermediate in appearance.
What model of inheritance, proposed by Lamarck, was still widely accepted in Darwin’s time?
The inheritance of acquired characteristics.
What is meant by “Genetic Purity”? What are the societal implications of this?
One group has “stuff” that other groups don’t have. Mixing leads to “pollution” Had racial implications when it was first proposed, now only considered for animal breeding.
What term best describes the transmission of pre-existing form?
Preformationism.
Describe “blending inheritance”. What kind of modern inheritance do we know which validates these views?
Offspring will be an intermediate phenotype between the parents. Species which have co-dominant alleles (ex: snapdragons) can exhibit this.
How did Mendel’s early life differ from that of Darwin?
Mendel’s family was very poor. He only attended university for 2 years and then ran out of money. Darwin was filthy rich.
What did Mendel do when forced to leave university due to financial troubles? Was this common for people in his situation?
Became a monk of the Augustinian Order at Brno. Many monks also desired a stable life and a place to pursue their intellectual interests.
What was Mendel’s part time job while living as a monk? What did he aspire to become? Why was he not successful?
He was a part time teacher but wanted to become a full teacher. Failed his oral exams twice because he was a pathologically nervous test-taker.
What was Mendel naturally good at? How did he want to apply this to science?
Naturally good with numbers, wanted to pursue science in a quantitative manner.
What was Gregor Mendel’s most notable achievement? Why did he not continue his work?
His pea hybridization experiments. He quit science because he couldn’t repeat his findings in another plant (which turned out to be super edge-case and weird).
Why are Mendel’s scientific ideas so difficult to reconstruct, compared with Darwin’s?
All of Mendel’s notes were burned after his death, so there’s not a lot to go on.
What 3 modern concepts did Mendel observe in his pea plant experiments?
- Segregation of traits
- Particulate inheritance
- Independent assortment
Why were Mendel’s observations of the segregation of traits different than experiments which had been done before?
He used quantitative measures to try to derive an abstract model of inheritance.
How did Mendel avoid self-pollination during his experiments?
Cut the stamens off the pea flowers.
Were Mendel’s observations only relevant to flower colour?
No, he observed these same ratios for many different plant traits.
