CBG 312 - Topic 1 (Introductory Lecture)

Topic 1
Introductory Lecture
Background
What is Genetics?
Genetics is the study of how traits are passed from parents to offspring.
Since the passing of traits from parents to offspring is known as heredity, the definition of
Genetics above could be compressed to: Genetics is the study of heredity.
The word ‘Genetics’ was introduced in 1905 by English biologist William Bateson. For the sake
of understanding and clarity, the development of Genetics to what it is today can be divided into
the following arbitrary phases:
Phase 1: Prehistory (10,000 – 12,000 Years Ago)
Early life was nomadic. In nomadism, people do not live continually in the same place but move
cyclically or periodically from place to place. It is distinguished from migration, which is
noncyclic and involves a total change of habitat. Early nomadic people depended on hunting and
gathering to live.
As human population grew, availability of wild food resources could not match the growing
population, human started to manipulate wild plants and animals by selectively breeding for
desirable traits, giving rise to early agriculture and first fixed settlements. Thus, cultivation of
wild plants and domestication of animals began during the prehistoric era.
In support of the fact that Genetics was part of early civilization, a Babylonian tablet more than
6,000 years old was found to show pedigrees of horses indicating possible inherited
characteristics. Other old carvings show cross-pollination of date palm trees.
Phase 2: Genetics in Ancient Civilization
Preformation
The idea of Preformation was proposed by two Dutch Biologists, Swammerdam and Bonnet
(1720-1793). According to Preformationism, inside the egg or sperm exists a tiny miniature adult
called homunculus, which simply enlarged during development. There are two schools of
thought: Ovists believed the humunculus resides in the egg while spermists believed it resides in
the sperm.
Figure 1.0: Humunculus as Depicted by Preformationists
There were difficulties in accepting preformation because perfect miniature creatures, although
imagined, were never observed. Preformationism was therefore replaced by the idea of
Epigenesis.
The Idea of Epigenesis
The epigenetic view proposed that new tissues and organs, which were not present in the original
formation, appeared during development of an organism.
Concept of Pangenesis
Hippocrates did not believe that new structures which were not present could arise as stipulated
in the concept of pangenesis. He postulated a hypothesis known as Pangenesis in which all
organs of the body of a parent gave off invisible “seeds,” which were like miniaturized building
components and were transmitted during sexual intercourse, reassembling themselves in the
mother’s womb to form a baby. The invisible seeds called gemmules were transported by the
blood stream to the sex organs. This old belief in importance of blood in heredity is still reflected
in today’s phrases such as “blood sister”, “blood brother”, “blood relative”, “related by blood”,
and “share the same blood”.
The concept of pangenesis reinforces the idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics, since,
according to pangenesis, gemmules were produced by body parts.
Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
The idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics also referred to as use and disuse was later
popularized by the French biologist, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, but it was rejected in view of
Darwin’s theory of natural selection which encompasses the idea that acquired traits cannot be
transmitted to offspring.
Theory of the Germplasm

With advancement in science, especially cytology, the theory of pangenesis was replaced by the
theory of the germplasm proposed by Weisman (1834-1914). Germplasm theory stated that
multicellular organisms give rise to two types of tissues: somatoplasm (for vegetative functions)
and germplasm (for reproductive function). Changes in somatoplasm are not passed to the
offspring, but changes affecting the germplasm can be inherited.
Figure 1.1: Comparison of Concepts of (a) Pangenesis and (b) the Germplasm
Phase 3: Era of Modern Genetics
The notion that parental characters were blended in the offspring was challenged by Gregor
Mendel (1822-1884) in his classical experiment on hybridization in plants using garden peas,
which he published in 1866. He crossed different varieties of garden peas and analyzed the
pattern of transmission of traits to subsequent generations. The laws of inheritance formulated by
him through the experiments are still valid today. He is regarded as the father of modern
genetics.
Phase 4: The Future of Genetics (Era of Genomics and Bioinformatics)

The discovery of the technology to sequence DNA by Sanger Sequencing and, later, the ability
to sequence the entire genomes of organisms by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) have
ushered in the era of Genomics (sequencing and study of the whole genome) and bioinformatics
(application of computer to biology). These fields are growing at a rapid rate.

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CBG 312 - Topic 1 (Introductory Lecture)

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Topic 1

Phase 1: Prehistory (10,000 – 12,000 Years Ago)

Phase 2: Genetics in Ancient Civilization

The Idea of Epigenesis

Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Theory of the Germplasm

Phase 3: Era of Modern Genetics

Phase 4: The Future of Genetics (Era of Genomics and Bioinformatics)

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