Proof That Mendel Discovered the Laws of Inheritance Decades Ahead of His Time
hubie writes:
The team, from KeyGene in the Netherlands and the John Innes Centre in the UK, draw on newly-discovered historical information to conclude that, when his proposals are viewed in the light of what was known of cells in the mid-19th century, Mendel was decades ahead of his time.
"Uncovering hidden details about Mendel has helped to build a picture of the scientific and intellectual environment in which he worked. At the outset Mendel knew nothing about Genetics and had to deduce it all for himself. How he went about this is highly instructive," said Dr Noel Ellis from the John Innes Centre, one of the contributors to the study.
The new information shows that Mendel began his work with the practical objectives of a plant breeder, before he became interested in the underlying biological processes that condition the heritable differences between organisms. It also shows that Mendel recognised the importance of understanding the formation of reproductive cells and the process of fertilisation.
[...] Thanks to modern technology, the authors were able to extract valuable information from 19th-century newspaper articles, proceedings, and yearbooks that have recently been digitised. These show how advanced the ideas and work of Mendel were as he used cell biological theory to come to conclusions on how traits of plants are transmitted from parents to their offspring.
Unfortunately paywalled. This looks like it would have made for some fascinating reading, but at least an interesting appendix is made available.
Journal Reference:
van Dijk, P.J., Jessop, A.P. & Ellis, T.H.N. How did Mendel arrive at his discoveries?. Nat Genet (2022). 10.1038/s41588-022-01109-9
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