Blending inheritance

Blending inheritance

In Darwin's time, biologists held to the theory of blending inheritance -- an offspring was an average of its parents. If an individual had one short parent and one tall parent, it would be of medium height. And, the offspring would pass on genes for medium sized offspring.If this was the case, new genetic variations would quickly be diluted out of a population. They could not accumulate as the theory of evolution required.

Historically, this was a short-lived 19th century "arm-chair" biological theory of inheritance, primarily discredited by the experiments of Gregor Mendel. It is similar to the modern idea of incomplete dominance in that the offspring will express a blending of the different traits of the parents. However, while incomplete dominance only expresses this blending in the phenotype, keeping the alleles within the heterozygote distinct (and, thus still inheritable in successive generations), the theory of blending inheritance referred to an actual blending of the genetic material (i.e. in modern terms, alleles would blend together to form a completely new allele). The offspring's trait, from parents with differing traits, in theory, could express itself exactly like either trait from one of the two parents or could express itself as some intermediate mixing of the parental traits. This blending theoretically was a smooth spectrum of infinite possible outcomes. This theory works similar to the way paint mixes. And, like with paint, where two colors, once mixed, become unrecoverable via successive mixing with still other colors, the historical theory of blending inheritance required that at least half of all genetic variances to be completely unrecoverable in successive generations.)


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  • blending inheritance — n. the blending of characteristics of the parents in the offspring, as in a pink flower that results from the mating of a red flower with a white one …   English World dictionary

  • blending inheritance — blending inheritance. См. слитное наследование. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • Blending Inheritance — Als blending inheritance wurde in der frühen Evolutionsbiologie eine bestimmte Annahme über den Ablauf der Vererbung bezeichnet, für die es keine allgemeingültige deutsche Entsprechung gibt. Dieser Annahme stand die Hypothese der particulate… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Blending inheritance — Als blending inheritance wurde in der frühen Evolutionsbiologie eine bestimmte Annahme über den Ablauf der Vererbung bezeichnet, für die es keine allgemeingültige deutsche Entsprechung gibt. Dieser Annahme stand die Hypothese der particulate… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • blending inheritance — noun : inheritance by the progeny of characters intermediate between those of the parents that is now usually explained on a mendelian basis by use of the multiple factor hypothesis compare blood 2, multiple factors, particulate inheritance,… …   Useful english dictionary

  • blending inheritance — blend·ing inheritance blend iŋ n the expression in offspring of phenotypic characters (as pink flower color from red and white parental plants) intermediate between those of the parents also inheritance in a now discarded theory in which the… …   Medical dictionary

  • blending inheritance — Genetics. inheritance in which contrasting parental characters appear as a blend in the offspring. Cf. particulate inheritance. [1920 25] * * * …   Universalium

  • blending inheritance — noun Date: 1922 the expression in offspring of phenotypic characters (as pink flower color from red and white parents) intermediate between those of the parents; also inheritance in a now discarded theory in which the genetic material of… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • blending inheritance — blend′ing inher′itance n. gen inheritance in which contrasting parental characters appear as a blend in the offspring • Etymology: 1920–25 …   From formal English to slang

  • Inheritance — Not something that is contained in a will, but rather a gene, chromosome or genome that is transmitted from parent to child. The pattern of inheritance is the manner in which a gene is transmitted. For example, the pattern of inheritance may be… …   Medical dictionary

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