Heredity: the Transmission of Traits

Subject Outline

ABasic features of heredity
- 1Early speculations on the nature of heredity
- 2Mendelian genetics: Mendel's experiments and their significance, the universality of Mendel's laws, interactions among genes and their variant forms (alleles)
- 3The combined action of heredity and environment in producing an organism
BThe physical basis of heredity
- 1Chromosomes and genes: the cellular basis of heredity
- 2Molecular genetics: the chemical and molecular nature of genes, the genetic code and its mutations, the expression and regulation of genes, applications of molecular genetics
CHeredity and evolution [see also 312.C.]
- 1Population genetics: the gene pool, the Hardy-Weinberg principle, changes in gene frequencies
- 2Natural selection as an agent of evolutionary change
- 3Artificial selection for genetic improvements of selected organisms: domesticated animals, cultivated plants, humankind [see also 355.B.3.]