Eminent Scientists in Genetics and Their Contributions
Quick NCERT-based reference for NEET aspirants
The work of Gregor Mendel and others who followed him gave us an idea of inheritance patterns. However, the nature of those ‘factors’ which determine the phenotype was not very clear.
As these ‘factors’ represent the genetic basis of inheritance, understanding the structure of genetic material and the structural basis of genotype and phenotype conversion became the focus of attention in biology for the next century.
The entire body of molecular biology was a consequent development with major contributions from Watson, Crick, Nirenberg, Khorana, Kornbergs (father and son), Benzer, Monod, Brenner, etc.
The contributions of these scientists gave a new dimension to study of Genetics. NTA usually asks at least one scientist from the two chapters of genetics in NEET exams.
We are providing a complete list of those eminent scientists and their contributions which are given in NCERT. Click the below link to get the complete list.
NEET Tip: NTA often asks at least one question about scientists mentioned in these two chapters of genetics.
Principles of Inheritance and Variation
Gregor Mendel
Conducted hybridization experiments on garden peas (1856–1863) and proposed the laws of inheritance in living organisms.
Reginald C. Punnett
Proposed the Punnett Square, a graphical tool to calculate genotype probabilities in a genetic cross.
Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns & von Tschermak
Independently rediscovered Mendel’s work on the inheritance of characters in 1900.
Walter Sutton & Theodore Boveri
Noted that chromosomes behave like genes and formulated the Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance.
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Worked on Drosophila and discovered linkage and recombination of genes.
Alfred Sturtevant
Used recombination frequencies to create the first genetic map of a chromosome.
Henking
(1891) Discovered the X body during spermatogenesis—later identified as the X chromosome.
Langdon Down
Described Down’s syndrome (1866), caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21).
Molecular Basis of Inheritance
Friedrich Meischer
Discovered DNA in 1869 and named it nuclein.
James Watson & Francis Crick
Proposed the Double Helix Model of DNA (1953).
Maurice Wilkins & Rosalind Franklin
Provided X-ray diffraction images that revealed DNA’s helical structure.
Erwin Chargaff
Formulated Chargaff’s Rule (A=T, G≡C ratios).
Francis Crick
Proposed the Central Dogma (DNA → RNA → Protein) and predicted the existence of tRNA.
Frederick Griffith
Discovered bacterial transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod & Maclyn McCarty
Proved that DNA is the “transforming principle.”
Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase
Confirmed that DNA is the genetic material (1952 bacteriophage experiment).
Matthew Meselson & Franklin Stahl
Proved semi-conservative DNA replication using E. coli.
Taylor et al.
Verified semi-conservative replication in Vicia faba (1958).
George Gamow
Suggested the triplet nature of the genetic code.
Har Gobind Khorana
Synthesized RNA molecules with defined base sequences.
Marshall Nirenberg
Developed a cell-free system for protein synthesis and deciphered the genetic code.
Severo Ochoa
Discovered polynucleotide phosphorylase for RNA synthesis.
Francois Jacob & Jacque Monod
Proposed the Lac Operon Model for gene regulation.
Frederick Sanger
Developed DNA sequencing and protein sequencing methods.
Alec Jeffreys
Invented DNA Fingerprinting using VNTR sequences.
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