Question

Father of experimental genetics is?
(a) Morgan
(b) Mendel
(c) Bateson
(d) Garrod

Answer 1

Hint: An American geneticist, biologist, and embryologist who is well known for his discovery of the role of chromosomes in heredity in the fruit fly.

Complete answer:
Thomas Hunt Morgan was known as the ‘Father of experimental genetics’ due to his role in discovering the mutation of a white eye in the fruit fly for which in 199 he received a nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine.
- After the discovery of the inheritance of Mendel in 1900, Hunt started to study the characteristics of the Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit fly) .
- While performing his experiment, he observed and demonstrated that the genes are present on the chromosomes that are transferred to the next generation via heredity.
- His observations were based on the experiments he performed and modern science, thus called after it ‘the father of experimental genetics’.
- To observe mutation in the fruit fly he treated them with various mutations including physical, chemical, and radiations.
- He noticed after a few years that the mutation occurred in the eye of the fruit fly resulting in the white eye fruit fly.
- The white-eyed flies were bred with wild type red- eyed flies that results in the formation of the red- eyed progenies.
So, the correct answer is, ‘ Morgan.’

Note: Gregor Mendel (1822- 1884) is widely considered as the father of experimental genetics for his pioneer work in the field of genetics. He experimented on pea plants (Pisum Sativum) and discovered the basic rules of inheritance of genes. Mendelian inheritance was originally proposed by Gregor Johann Mendel in 1865 and 1866. These were rediscovered in 1900 and were made infamous by William Bateson. William Bateson in 1905 coined the term ‘genetics’ from the word ‘gene’. He was an early geneticist and proponent of Mendel's ideas, he felt the need for a new term to describe the study of heredity and inherited variations. Archibald Garrod discovered the inheritance of alkaptonuria.