Piebald rats and selection : $b An experimental test of the effectiveness of selection and of the theory of gametic purity in Mendelian crosses — John Shaqi
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
The upper group of offspring (Table 52) result, we may suppose, from a
mutant gamete (grade about 5½) united with a narrow series gamete (grade
about -2). This group includes 31 individuals varying closely about
grade 4½, and with a standard deviation of only 0.31. The lower average
grade of this group (4.43) compared with the similar group of Table 51,
which had a mean of 5.47, shows the influence of the minus-series gamete
upon the heterozygote in lowering its grade by about 1. Whether the
plus-series gametes have any effect upon the grade of the heterozygotes
recorded in the upper group of Table 51 is not certain, because a
_homozygous_ group of mutants has not yet been established. It may be
observed, however, that one individual in the upper group of Table 51
was of grade 6 (colored all over), and it is possible that homozygous
“mutants,” when obtained, will approximate that grade, as most wild
rats do. Further, a comparison of Tables 51 and 53 shows that mutant
heterozygotes formed by crosses with the plus series are of slightly
_lower_ mean grade than the offspring of the two mutants, among which
should occur both homozygous and heterozygous mutants. It seems probable,
therefore, that homozygous mutants will be found to be of somewhat higher
grade than heterozygous ones.
The question early suggested itself to our minds, will these “mutants”
prove to be mutants in the sense of De Vries? Will they prove to be
more stable than the modifications ordinarily secured by selection in
our experiments? To test this matter, we have raised two additional
generations of offspring from the two mutants and have bred a second
generation of offspring from each of the four groups of F₁ offspring
recorded in Tables 51 and 52, derived from matings with the plus and
minus races respectively.
The F₂ descendants of the two original mutants proved very similar to the
F₁ descendants. (See Table 53.) They fall as before into two groups, an
upper and a lower. The former includes 30 individuals of mean grade 5.52,
the latter 2 of mean grade 3.37. As the parents of this generation were
taken wholly from the _upper_ group of offspring of generation F₁, and as
theoretically that group should contain 2 heterozygous individuals to one
which is homozygous for the “mutant” character, it is to be expected that
in F₂ more than three-fourths of the offspring will fall in the upper
group. For any pair, one member of which is homozygous for the mutant
character, should produce only offspring falling in the upper group; and
offspring falling in the _lower_ group should be produced only by pairs
_both_ members of which are heterozygous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account