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Mendel: From genes to genome

Two hundred years after the birth of Gregor Mendel, it is an appropriate time to reflect on recent developments in the discipline of genetics, particularly advances relating to the prescient friar’s model species, the garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). Mendel’s study of seven characteristics established...

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Autores principales: Sussmilch, Frances C, Ross, John J, Reid, James B
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9706470/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36094356
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac424
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author Sussmilch, Frances C
Ross, John J
Reid, James B
author_facet Sussmilch, Frances C
Ross, John J
Reid, James B
author_sort Sussmilch, Frances C
collection PubMed
description Two hundred years after the birth of Gregor Mendel, it is an appropriate time to reflect on recent developments in the discipline of genetics, particularly advances relating to the prescient friar’s model species, the garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). Mendel’s study of seven characteristics established the laws of segregation and independent assortment. The genes underlying four of Mendel’s loci (A, LE, I, and R) have been characterized at the molecular level for over a decade. However, the three remaining genes, influencing pod color (GP), pod form (V/P), and the position of flowers (FA/FAS), have remained elusive for a variety of reasons, including a lack of detail regarding the loci with which Mendel worked. Here, we discuss potential candidate genes for these characteristics, in light of recent advances in the genetic resources for pea. These advances, including the pea genome sequence and reverse-genetics techniques, have revitalized pea as an excellent model species for physiological–genetic studies. We also discuss the issues that have been raised with Mendel’s results, such as the recent controversy regarding the discrete nature of the characters that Mendel chose and the perceived overly-good fit of his segregations to his hypotheses. We also consider the relevance of these controversies to his lasting contribution. Finally, we discuss the use of Mendel’s classical results to teach and enthuse future generations of geneticists, not only regarding the core principles of the discipline, but also its history and the role of hypothesis testing.
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spelling pubmed-97064702023-01-17 Mendel: From genes to genome Sussmilch, Frances C Ross, John J Reid, James B Plant Physiol Update Two hundred years after the birth of Gregor Mendel, it is an appropriate time to reflect on recent developments in the discipline of genetics, particularly advances relating to the prescient friar’s model species, the garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). Mendel’s study of seven characteristics established the laws of segregation and independent assortment. The genes underlying four of Mendel’s loci (A, LE, I, and R) have been characterized at the molecular level for over a decade. However, the three remaining genes, influencing pod color (GP), pod form (V/P), and the position of flowers (FA/FAS), have remained elusive for a variety of reasons, including a lack of detail regarding the loci with which Mendel worked. Here, we discuss potential candidate genes for these characteristics, in light of recent advances in the genetic resources for pea. These advances, including the pea genome sequence and reverse-genetics techniques, have revitalized pea as an excellent model species for physiological–genetic studies. We also discuss the issues that have been raised with Mendel’s results, such as the recent controversy regarding the discrete nature of the characters that Mendel chose and the perceived overly-good fit of his segregations to his hypotheses. We also consider the relevance of these controversies to his lasting contribution. Finally, we discuss the use of Mendel’s classical results to teach and enthuse future generations of geneticists, not only regarding the core principles of the discipline, but also its history and the role of hypothesis testing. Oxford University Press 2022-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9706470/ /pubmed/36094356 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac424 Text en © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Update
Sussmilch, Frances C
Ross, John J
Reid, James B
Mendel: From genes to genome
title Mendel: From genes to genome
title_full Mendel: From genes to genome
title_fullStr Mendel: From genes to genome
title_full_unstemmed Mendel: From genes to genome
title_short Mendel: From genes to genome
title_sort mendel: from genes to genome
topic Update
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9706470/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36094356
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac424
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