In a modern scientific form, the foundations of genetics were laid by the outstanding scientist from the Czech Republic G. Mendel. It was he who in 1865 made a series of experiments on crossing pea seeds and, on the basis of the results obtained, formulated the assumption that the process of inheritance of characters occurs due to the presence and movement of some discrete particles. In addition, Mendel pointed out some of the primary properties of the genetic process, namely that it does not have an intermediate character.
Later, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Mendel's assumptions were confirmed experimentally, which was developed and implemented by H. de Friso and C. Correns. The term "genetics" in the meaning of the name of a new science appeared for the first time in the writings of the English naturalist W. Betson, and in 1909, studying the fundamentals of Mendel’s genetics, the Danish V. Johansen introduced the category “gene” into scientific circulation to denote the very discrete particle, Mendel was talking about.
A key concept in the field of genetics is heredity. Her understanding is based on the recognition of the properties of all living organisms to transmit their characters by inheritance. This process ensures their ability to maintain their characteristic features for a long time. Moreover, the ability to change phenotypic and genotypic characteristics is also recognized as a necessary property of heredity. This property was later called variability and, in essence, became what we today understand as the foundations of genetics and selection.
Without exception, all modern achievements in the field of genetics owe their justification to the appearance and development of new technologies for scientific research. Only on their basis it became possible to establish and experimentally prove such fundamental principles of theoretical and applied genetics as the structure and composition of nucleic acids, they made it possible to reveal the code of the genetic code, experimentally show and explain the stages of biosynthesis at the theoretical level. In a word, the foundations of genetics, laid down in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, became the basis on which numerous areas of genetic science are developing today: molecular and evolutionary genetics, genogeography and immunogenetics, medical genetics and others.
The process of constant expansion of the research field in the field of genetics has also led to a significant increase in its subject of study as a science, in the modern sense, the subject of genetics as a science consists in the study of the most general and essential laws of heredity and variability. The empirical basis for conducting such studies are phenotypic data.
In the course of the development of genetic science, the categorical apparatus of this science was formed, and today almost every educated person freely operates with such concepts as a gene, phenotype, genotype, and others. Moreover, some categories of genetics “migrated” to other sciences, including social sciences. Here they are used to denote specific features and conditions of society and its structures, characterized by the ability to maintain their stability, stability and ensure continuity in the transmission of sociocultural characteristics.
The modern foundations of genetics are based on the recognition of a number of provisions:
- heredity is an objectively necessary and discrete parameter that ensures the viability of living organisms;
- it is hereditary variability that is the root cause of the emergence and development of the whole variety of life forms and their evolutionary development;
- hereditarily incorporated traits are programmed in DNA and RNA molecules , which act as the main carriers of hereditary information;
- manifestations of the individuality of each species is ensured by biochemical reactions in which genes participate and transmit relevant information about a particular trait;
- the hereditary information itself is located in the cell nucleus.
Based on these provisions, the teachings were formulated, which today form the basis of fundamental genetics. Among them, the most important place is occupied by the theory of monohybrid crossbreeding, which was named after its creator Gregor Mendel, the laws of combining characters, chromosome theory, and others.