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Blending Inheritance |
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The idea of blending inheritance was almost universal among Life scientists until the general recognition of Mendel\'s work at the end of the 19th century. Although there was no clear evidence to support the assumption that parental characteristics were blended in the offspring, this appeared to be the obvious explanation for the observable inheritance of parental features. It appeared to be supported by observations of hybrids between species and was mathematically defined in terms of the fraction of the individual for which each ancestor was responsible a from a parent, from a grandparent and so on. However, if blending inheritance were the true situation, then interbreeding individuals would rapidly become homogeneous. This does not happen because genes are transmitted between generations as discrete units, enabling characteristics to be indefinitely conserved and giving each individual a unique combination of genes, some from each parent. RB
See also gene; Mendelism; pangenesis. |
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