Localization of the Hereditary Material in the Germ Cells

Abstract

It has come to be recognized that it must be more than a coincidence that in each animal and plant there are two representatives of each hereditary character (one derived from the mother and one derived from the father), and that there are two of each kind of chromosome (one derived from the mother and one derived from the father). Moreover this relation becomes much more impressive when it is found that in the formation of the germ cells the representatives of the different characters separate from each other, and that the chromosomes separate also, so that each germ cell has but one set of factors and but one set of chromosomes. The comparison does not stop even here, and I propose to review briefly the further evidence that leads to the conclusion that the chromosomes are the bearers of the hereditary characters and that the known chromosomal behavior suffices as a mechanism to explain Mendel's law.

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