Johanssen (1909) described Mendel‘s ‘Factor’ as ‘Gene’.
Seymour Benzer (1962) recognized three units of gene cistron, recon and muton. Nowadays, many times cistron itself is considered as gene.
What is Gene? – Definition
A brief definition of gene is given below.
- Sequence of nucleotides which code for a functional product of RNA or a polypeptide (protein).
- Fundamental physical and functional unit of heredity i.e. carrier of information from one generation to the next
- Occupies a specific location on a chromosome i.e. locus
- Determines a particular characteristic in an organism, two or more genes may also be involve to control a single character.
- When a character is governed by two or more genes, they may exhibit phenomenon gene interaction
- Generally each gene has two alternative forms i.e. allele
- Each diploid cell has two copies of each gene while gametic cell has one copy.
- Have specific sequence on chromosome
- Show segregation during meiosis
- Exchange of gene may take place during meiosis
- Show linkage
Visit to know various types of Gene interactions