Biometrical Genetics
Biometrical Genetics
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DOI：
10.1007/978-1-4899-3406-2
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发表时间：
1982
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D.Sc F.R.S. Sir Kenneth Mather C.B.E.;F.R.S. John L. Jinks D.Sc.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D.Sc F.R.S. Sir Kenneth Mather C.B.E.;F.R.S. John L. Jinks D.Sc.
连续变异的特性是进化论和动植物改良实践的基础。然而，对连续变异的遗传研究远远落后于对不连续变异的研究。造成这种情况的原因基本上是方法论上的。孟德尔不仅给我们提供了他的遗传原理，而且还提供了一种实验方法，通过这种方法，这些原理可以在更大范围的生物物种上得到检验，并延伸到今天复杂的遗传理论中。遗传学发展的速度充分证明了这一工具的威力。在不到五十年的时间里，它不仅发展了一个在生物科学中独一无二的理论结构，而且与核细胞学建立了如此紧密的结合，以至于两者实际上已经成为一门科学，为我们提供了一种新的方法来解决进化、发育、疾病、细胞化学和人类福利等各种各样的问题。如果没有孟德尔的方法来识别和利用遗传物质中的单位差异，这些进步在很大程度上是不可能实现的，而且进展会更慢。然而，这些伟大的成就不应使我们忽视这种方法本身固有的局限性。它的成功取决于将个体划分为不同类别的能力，这些类别的明显表型差异揭示了潜在的遗传差异。
The properties of continuous variation are basic to the theory of evolution and to the practice of plant and animal improvement. Yet the genetical study of continuous variation has lagged far behind that of discontinuous variation. The reason for this situation is basically methodological. Mendel gave us not merely his principles of heredity, but also a method of experiment by which these principles could be tested over a wider range ofliving species, and extended into the elaborate genetical theory of today. The power of this tool is well attested by the speed with which genetics has grown. In less than fifty years, it has not only developed a theoretical structure which is unique in the biological sciences, but has established a union with nuclear cytology so close that the two have become virtually a single science offering us a new approach to problems so diverse as those of evolution, development, disease, cellular chemistry and human welfare. Much of this progress would have been impossible and all would have been slower without the Mendelian method of recognizing and using unit differences in the genetic materials. These great achievements should not, however, blind us to the limitations inherent in the method itself. It depends for its success on the ability to assign the individuals to classes whose clear phenotypic distinctions reveal the underlying genetic differences.