Theories of Genetics

Jennifer G. Opiso
Plant Biology Division
Institute of Biological Sciences, CMU

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

Early Theories of Genetics

1. Pangenesis
_ In 1868 Charles Darwin proposed Pangenesis, a
developmental theory of heredity
– specific particles, later called gemmules, carry
information from various parts of the body to the
reproductive organs, from where they are passed
to the embryo at the moment of conception

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU
2. inheritance of acquired characteristics

_ Jean Baptiste de Lamarck

– traits acquired during one’s lifetime become incorporated into one’s

hereditary information and are passed on to offspring

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.)
• rejected the concepts of pangenesis and the inheritance of acquired
characteristics
– people sometimes resemble past ancestors more than their
parents
– acquired characteristics such as mutilated body parts are not
passed on
• believed that both males and females made contributions to the
offspring and that there was a struggle of sorts between male and
female contributions.

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

3. Vapour and Fluid Theories
– Pythagoras (500 B.C.) proposed that every organ of
animal body gives out some type of vapours. These
vapours unite and form a new individual.
– Hippocrates (400 B.C.) believed that the reproductive
material is handed over from all parts of the body of
an individual, so that the characters are directly
handed over to the progeny.
– Aristotle (350.B.C.) thought that the semen of man
has some “vitalizing” effect and he considered it as
the highly purified blood. According to him the
mother furnishes inert matter and the father gives the
motion to the new life.
Department of Biology, CAS, CMU
4. Preformationism
– inside the egg or sperm
existed a tiny miniature
adult, a homunculus, which
simply enlarged during
development.
– all traits would be inherited
from only one parent—from
the father if the homunculus
was in the sperm or from the
mother if it was in the egg
– Ovists: homunculus resided
in the egg
– spermists insisted that it was
in the sperm
Department of Biology, CAS, CMU
– Hippocrates proposed that all the structure of the
adult was present in the zygote
– Anaxagoras who believed instead that all parts of
the child were preformed in the paternal semen

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

5. Epigenesis
• William Harvey (1578–1657)
• an organism is derived from
substances present in the egg
that differentiate into adult
structures during embryonic
development

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

6. blending inheritance
_Gregor Johann Mendel

– offspring are a blend, or

mixture, of parental traits.
– the genetic material itself
blends
– Once blended, genetic
differences could not be
separated out in future
generations

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU

7. Particulate Theories
– Maupertuis (1689–1759) has proposed that the body
of each parent gives rise minute particles.
– In sexual reproduction, the particles of both
individuals unite together to form a new individual.
– He thought that in certain cases the particles of the
male parent might dominate on those of the female
parent and produce the male individual.
– In the production of female individual the particles of
female might dominate on particles of male.
– Thus, Maupertuis proposed the concept of biparental
inheritanceby elementary particles.

Department of Biology, CAS, CMU