In this article we will discuss about the chromosome theory of inheritance. In order to understand the role played by chromosomes as carriers of hereditary material, we must turn the clock backward to some landmarks in the history of genetics. The earliest records date back to the work of the 18th Century plant hybridisers. One of them Kolreuter had some [...]
Some investigators of 1950s focused their attention on viruses containing protein and RNA, but no DNA. The poliomyelitis virus, influenza virus and the virus that causes mosaic disease in tobacco plants (TMV) were thus shown to have genes made of RNA. Earlier in 1935 W. M. Stanley had reported the isolation of a crystalline protein from infected tobacco plants, which [...]
In this article we will discuss about the presence of DNA in mitochondria and chloroplasts. The presence of organelle-specific DNA in mitochondria and chloroplasts was identified with certainty over three decades ago. The occurrence of a specific chloroplast DNA was first demonstrated by Chun et al. in 1963, and of mitochondrial DNA a year later by Luck and Reich (1964). [...]