Assignment : 1. Species characteristics is can be defined as something that is present in every member of the species, a trait they share thereby defining group, while Individual characteristics can be identified as having originated with a particular person or source; it establishes individuality for examples, fingerprints and footprints. 2. Genetics is the science of of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms. It is generally considered a field of biology, but it intersects frequently with many of the life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems. Trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still a primary principle of genetics in the 21st century, but modern genetics has expanded beyond inheritance to studying the function and behavior of genes. Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the cell, the organism (e.g. dominance) and within the context of a population. Genetics has given rise to a number of sub-fields including epi-genetics and population genetics. Organisms studied within the broad field span the domain of life, including bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. 3. Born Johann Mendel to Anton and Rosine Mendel, on his family’s farm, he spent his early youth in that rural setting, until age 11, when a local schoolmaster who was impressed with his aptitude for learning recommended that he be sent to secondary school in Troppau to continue his education. Gregor Mendel, known as the father of modern genetics, was born in Austria on July 22, 1822. A monk, Mendel discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments in his monasterys garden. His experiments showed that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, subsequently becoming the foundation of modern genetics and leading to the study of heredity. On one of his frequent walks around the monastery, he found an atypical variety of an ornamental plant. He took it and planted it next to the typical variety. He grew their progeny side by side to see if there would be any approximation of the traits passed on to the next generation. This experiment was designed to support or to illustrate Lamarcks views concerning the influence of environment upon plants. He found that the plants respective offspring retained the essential traits of the parents, and therefore were not influenced by the environment. This simple test gave birth to the idea of heredity. Once he crossed peas and mice of different varieties for the fun of the thing, and the phenomena of dominance and segregation forced themselves upon notice. He saw that the traits were inherited in certain numerical ratios. He then came up with the idea of dominance and segregation of genes and set out to test it in peas. It took seven years to cross and score the plants to the thousand to prove the laws of inheritance! From his studies, Mendel derived certain basic laws of heredity: hereditary factors do not combine, but are passed intact; each member of the parental generation transmits only half of its hereditary factors to each offspring (with certain factors dominant over others); and different offspring of the same parents receive different sets of hereditary factors. Mendels work became the foundation for modern genetics.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:20:16 +0000