The evolution of genetics / by Arnold W. Ravin.

  • Ravin, Arnold W. (Arnold Warren)
Date:
[1965]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The evolution of genetics / by Arnold W. Ravin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Legacy of Classical Genetics 3 book primarily the fruits of genetic investigations since 1940, there is no intention thereby either to dismiss or derogate the contributions of pre-1940 genetics. On the contrary, as is to be expected of the normal development of any science, a classical period sets the stage for the modern period. Setting the stage in a scientific context really means arriving at the right kinds of questions. With the advantage of historical perspective, we can see that classical genetics did just that. We can also see that it re¬ quired special tools and particularly appropriate objects in order to answer the questions raised by the results of classical genetics. To approach the problems of gene struc¬ ture and function, the essential tools were biochemical, and the especially suitable objects were microbial. On the other hand, the tools needed to study the structures of popula¬ tions were largely mathematical. A proper view of modern genetics would encompass the molecular approach to the gene and the populational ap¬ proach to evolution. As a sign perhaps of the divergence and specialization within modern genetics, few books written today could be expected to represent fairly both approaches. This book will not be exceptional. Its aim, in any case, is limited; it is to survey what the molecular ap¬ proach has managed to accomplish during the modern period of genetic research. Nevertheless, it will not leave evolutionary genetics entirely out of its range. Fortunately, connections with evolutionary genetics arise from consider¬ ations of the variations in genetic material, a topic to be examined in the final chapter. It follows from what has already been said that one can¬ not safely ignore the legacy of classical genetics if one wants to understand why molecular genetics has pursued the particular course it has. Classical genetics gave direction to molecular genetics by posing certain basic questions. Let us review, therefore, in what must be a highly condensed fashion, the essential contributions of the classical period and the problems they raised.
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