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The Full Breadth of Mendel’s Genetics
- Source :
- Genetics
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Genetics Society of America, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Gregor Mendel’s “Experiments on Plant Hybrids” (1865/1866), published 150 years ago, is without doubt one of the most brilliant works in biology. Curiously, Mendel’s later studies on Hieracium (hawkweed) are usually seen as a frustrating failure, because it is assumed that they were intended to confirm the segregation ratios he found in Pisum. Had this been his intention, such a confirmation would have failed, since, unknown to Mendel, Hieracium species mostly reproduce by means of clonal seeds (apomixis). Here we show that this assumption arises from a misunderstanding that could be explained by a missing page in Mendel’s first letter to Carl Nägeli. Mendel’s writings clearly indicate his interest in “constant hybrids,” hybrids which do not segregate, and which were “essentially different” from “variable hybrids” such as in Pisum. After the Pisum studies, Mendel worked mainly on Hieracium for 7 years where he found constant hybrids and some great surprises. He also continued to explore variable hybrids; both variable and constant hybrids were of interest to Mendel with respect to inheritance and to species evolution. Mendel considered that their similarities and differences might provide deep insights and that their differing behaviors were “individual manifestations of a higher more fundamental law.”
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Genetics
constant hybrids
Hieracium
Centennial
Gregor Mendel
History, 19th Century
Biology
biology.organism_classification
01 natural sciences
Correspondence as Topic
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
Apomixis
apomixis
010606 plant biology & botany
Perspectives
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19432631 and 00166731
- Volume :
- 204
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Genetics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....069399fc9f0913b2fbe59e61697509b8