Views on the nature of the gene, the structure and function of the chromosome, and heterochromatic heredity.

Abstract

Goldschmidt’s early acceptance of the classical definition of genes, as discrete, hereditary units, linearly arranged on chromosomes (derived from the Mendelian genetic analyses of the Morgan school) changed eventually to outright rejection1,2 when he considered the facts regarding position effects discovered by Sturtevant in 19253 in which physical rearrangements among the chromosomes lead to different activities of the same gene. He proposed an alternative model in 1938 (see below) in which the chromosome was the basic functional unit of heredity and any breakage or rearrangement within the chromosome would result in a change in the genetic functioning of the chain-like molecule as a whole.KeywordsPosition EffectSingle Base ChangeDiamino AcidIntercalary HeterochromatinSalivary Gland Polytene ChromosomeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.