Genetics

Genetics is the study of genes, genetic diversity, and heredity in living things.

Despite the fact that heredity had been observed for millennia, Gregor Mendel, a Moravian scientist and Augustinian priest working in Brno in the nineteenth century, was the first to conduct a scientific examination of genetics. Mendel looked on “trait inheritance,” or how qualities are passed down from parents to offspring over time. He discovered that organisms (pea plants) inherit features in separate “inheritance units.” This word, which is still in use today, is an imprecise definition of what is known as a gene.

In the twenty-first century, trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still essential aspects of genetics, but modern genetics has gone beyond inheritance to include the study of gene function and behaviour. The structure and function of genes, as well as their variation and distribution, are investigated in the context of the cell, the organism (e.g. dominance), and a population. Molecular genetics, epigenetics, and population genetics are just a few of the subfields of genetics. The organisms researched in this broad field come from all walks of life (archaea, bacteria, and eukarya).

Nature vs nurture refers to how genetic processes interact with an organism’s surroundings and experiences to determine development and behaviour. A living cell’s or organism’s intracellular or extracellular environment can turn gene transcription on or off. Two genetically identical corn seedlings, one in a temperate region and the other in an arid climate, are a famous example (lacking sufficient waterfall or rain). While the average height of the two corn stalks may be genetically equivalent, due to a lack of water and nutrients in its surroundings, the one in the arid climate only grows to half the height of the one in the temperate area.