Jana Hájková:
The Most Common Interpretations of Mendelian Notation and their Relation to the Conceptions of Factor in Early Classical Genetics

Abstract

The article deals with the Mendelian notation used in classical genetics for taking down breeding results. It identifies the most frequent meanings assigned to the capital and small letters in different situations in early classical genetics and the most influential conceptions of the nature of factors that are represented in Mendelian formulae by these letters. In 1913 Thomas Hunt Morgan opened a discussion about the adequacy of the notation and its interpretation in accordance with the Absence – Presence hypothesis and in accordance with allelomorphism. Hunt’s critique of Mendelian notation, his proposal for a new one, and the reaction to it constitute the heart of this article.

Language: czech

Keywords: Mendelian notation; classical genetics; concept of gene factor; Thomas Hunt Morgan