What Is The Role Of Genetics?
                     WHAT IS THE 
ROLE OF 
GENETICS? 
INTRODUCTION
 Genet ics ,  study of  heredity  in  general  and of  genes 
in part icular.  Genet ics forms one of  the central  
p i l lars  of  bio logy and over laps wi th many other 
areas,  such as agr icul ture,  medic ine ,  and 
biotechnology.
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RECOGNITION OF 
GENETICS 
 Since the dawn of  c iv i l i zat ion,  humankind has 
recognized the infl uence of  heredi ty and appl ied i ts  
pr inc ip les to the  improvement of  cu l t ivated crops 
and domest ic  animals.  
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IDENTIFICATION OF 
GENES
 Genet ics  arose out  of  the  ident ifi cat ion of  genes,  
the fundamental  uni ts  responsible  for  heredity.  
 Genet ics  may be defi ned as  the study of  genes at  
a l l  levels ,  inc luding the ways in  which they act in 
the ce l l  and the ways in which they are t ransmitted 
f rom parents to off spr ing.
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MODERN GENETICS
 Modern genet ics focuses on the chemica l  substance 
that genes are made of ,  ca l led deoxyr ibonucle ic  
ac id,  or  DNA,  and the  ways in  which i t  aff ects the 
chemical  react ions  that  const i tute the  l iv ing 
processes with in the ce l l .
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HISTORICAL 
BACKGROUND
 Although sc ient ifi c evidence for  patterns of  genetic  
inher i tance d id not  appear unt i l  Mendel ’s  work,  
h is tory shows that  humankind must  have been 
interested in  heredi ty  long before the dawn of  
c iv i l izat ion.  
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EARLY MOLECULAR 
GENETICS
 In 1908 Br i t ish phys ic ian Archibald Garrod proposed 
the important  idea that  the  human disease 
alkaptonur ia,  and certain other  hereditary 
d iseases,  were caused by inborn errors  of  
metabol ism, suggest ing for  the fi rst  t ime that  
l inked genes had molecular  act ion at  the ce l l  leve l .
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Cytogenetics
 Cytogenet ics ,  the  microscopic  s tudy of  
chromosomes,  b lends the ski l l s  of  cytologists ,  who 
study the  structure and act iv i t ies of  ce l l s ,  wi th 
those of  genetic ists ,  who study genes.  
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Microbial genetics
 Microorganisms were  general ly  ignored by the ear ly  
genet ic is ts  because they are  smal l  in  s ize and were 
thought to lack var iable  tra i ts  and the sexual  
reproduct ion necessary for  a mix ing of  genes f rom 
diff erent  organisms.
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Molecular genetics
 Molecular  genet ics  i s  the study of  the  molecular  
structure  of  DNA,  i ts  ce l lu lar  act iv i t ies ( inc luding 
i ts  repl icat ion) ,  and i ts  infl uence in  determining the 
overal l  makeup of  an organism.  
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Genomics
 Genomics is  the study of  the  structure,  funct ion,  
and evo lut ionary comparison of  whole  genomes.  
 Genomics has made i t  poss ible  to study gene 
funct ion at  a broader  level ,  reveal ing sets  o f  genes 
that interact  to impinge on some bio logical  
property of  interest  to the researcher.  
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