Piebald rats and selection : $b An experimental test of the effectiveness of selection and of the theory of gametic purity in Mendelian crossesCastle, William E. (William Ernest)
Science
Piebald rats and selection : $b An experimental test of the effectiveness of selection and of the theory of gametic purity in Mendelian crosses
Castle, William E. (William Ernest)
Heredity
If we assume that there exists at the outset a definite number of
modifiers and that these possess a definite and unchanging power to
modify, then it is evident that selection can do nothing but secure
homozygous conditions as regards the presence or absence of these
modifiers. When such homozygous conditions are secured, selection will
cease to modify the race. The experiment has progressed far enough to
show that extensive modification through selection is possible without
any marked falling off in variability. No indication is observable that
selection will become ineffective before an all-black rat is obtained
in the plus series and an all-white rat in the minus series. A _nearly_
all-black race of rats has already been secured. We propose to continue
the experiments until demonstrative evidence is obtained.
If the fixed-factor idea as regards modifiers of the hooded pattern is
rejected, there remain still two possible alternative views regarding
them. Either we may consider that the modifiers vary in strength, that
is, in power to modify, or we may consider that new modifiers arise
from time to time, which selection may either add in homozygous form to
the germinal complex or reject altogether from it. If we assume that the
modifiers vary in strength, we shall have to grant also the possibility
that the character modified, the hooded pattern, may itself vary in
strength independently of its modifiers. For evidence see the description
of the “mutant” series, page 30. This assumption, I understand, would be
unacceptable to those who hold a genotype conception of heredity, though
we ourselves can offer no valid objection to it.
If, on the other hand, we admit that new modifiers or inhibitors are from
time to time coming into existence spontaneously, and that selection can
use these to modify the pattern either in a plus or in a minus direction,
then we must admit that selection is an agency of real creative power,
able to modify unit characters indefinitely so long as physiological
limitations are not reached.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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