The Concept of the Causal Role of Chromosomes and Genes in Heredity and Development: Opponents from Darwin to Lysenko (2014)
Deichmann, Ute (Author)
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
Volume: 57, no. 1
Issue: 1
Pages: 57-77
The idea of chromosomes and genes as causal agents in development and heredity originated in late 19th-century cytology, and it was most strongly supported by Theodor Boveri and Edmund B. Wilson. The concept of genes, which was central and most fruitful in classical genetics, appeared, however, unappealing and insufficient to many for explaining complex biological phenomena such as development. Philosophical outlooks, among them “Lamarckian” and holistic predilections, played a significant role in scientists' objection to genes as causal factors. A wide conceptual gap between genetics and developmental biology ensued. The strongest attack on the concept of genes was launched by agronomist and politician Trofim Lysenko in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Brushing aside the “Mendelist-Morganist” methods of classical genetics, Lysenko put forward a holistic concept of heredity that incorporated development and heritable responses to environmental conditions, similar to Darwin's Pangenesis theory, though of course some 60 years later. Recent developments include the role of genes in research on epigenetic marks and in systems approaches based on embryological gene regulatory networks.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Santesmases, María Jesús;
(2013)
The Biological Landscape of Polyploidy: Chromosomes under Glass in the 1950s
(/isis/citation/CBB001211941/)
Article
Harman, Oren;
(2003)
Darlington and the “Invention” of the Chromosome
(/isis/citation/CBB000600546/)
Article
Kouprianov, Alexei V.;
(2011)
The “Soviet Creative Darwinism” (1930s--1950s): From the Selective Reading of Darwin's Works to the Transmutation of Species
(/isis/citation/CBB001220379/)
Article
Satzinger, Helga;
(2008)
Theodor and Marcella Boveri: Chromosomes and Cytoplasm in Heredity and Development
(/isis/citation/CBB001021853/)
Article
Volpone, Alessandro;
(2015)
Chromosomenindividualität or Entmischung? The Debate between Paolo Della Valle and Edmund B. Wilson
(/isis/citation/CBB001510264/)
Article
Volpone, Alessandro;
(2018)
Paolo Della Valle ed Edmund B. Wilson sulla natura dei cromosomi: Concezioni a confronto
(/isis/citation/CBB023451755/)
Article
Gilbert, Scott F.;
(1978)
The embryological origins of the gene theory
(/isis/citation/CBB000013721/)
Article
Roll-Hansen, Nils;
(2008)
Wishful Science: The Persistence of T. D. Lysenko's Agrobiology in the Politics of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000850336/)
Article
Falk, Raphael;
(2003)
How Many Chromosomes?
(/isis/citation/CBB000340595/)
Article
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger;
(2015)
Re-discovering Mendel: The Case of Carl Correns
(/isis/citation/CBB876750608/)
Article
Moreno, Juan;
(2009)
Lamarck necesita a Darwin: la búsqueda de intención en el estudio de la evolución y de la historia
(/isis/citation/CBB001020976/)
Article
Eduard I. Kolchinsky;
(2017)
Nikolaĭ I. Vavilov in the Realm of Historical and Scientific Discussions
(/isis/citation/CBB711789477/)
Article
Wülfingen, Bettina Bock v.;
(2015)
Observing Temporal Order in Living Processes: On the Role of Time in Embryology on the Cell Level in the 1870s and Post-2000
(/isis/citation/CBB001510247/)
Book
Harman, Oren Solomon;
(2004)
The Man Who Invented the Chromosome: A Life of Cyril Darlington
(/isis/citation/CBB000470729/)
Article
Dröscher, Ariane;
(2015)
Gregor Mendel, Franz Unger, Carl Nägeli and the Magic of Numbers
(/isis/citation/CBB001553633/)
Article
Jean Gayon;
Richard M. Burian;
Laurent Loison;
(2017)
The Contributions – and Collapse – of Lamarckian Heredity in Pasteurian Molecular Biology: 1. Lysogeny, 1900–1960
(/isis/citation/CBB496049162/)
Book
Boveri, Theodor;
Harris, Sir Henry;
(2008)
Concerning the Origin of Malignant Tumours
(/isis/citation/CBB001021211/)
Article
Hodge, Jonathan;
(2010)
The Darwin of Pangenesis
(/isis/citation/CBB001211673/)
Book
Brown, William;
Fabian, Andrew C.;
(2010)
Darwin
(/isis/citation/CBB001023129/)
Book
Schwartz, James;
(2008)
In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA
(/isis/citation/CBB000774889/)
Be the first to comment!