The Boveri–Sutton chromosome theory (also known as the chromosome theory of inheritance or the Sutton–Boveri theory) is a fundamental unifying theory of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

which identifies

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s as the carriers of

genetic material Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main clas ...

.1902: Theodor Boveri (1862-1915) and Walter Sutton (1877-1916) propose that chromosomes bear hereditary factors in accordance with Mendelian laws
Genetics and Genomics Timeline. Genome News Network an online publication of the J. Craig Venter Institute.
Holmgren Lab Northwestern University.Mader, S. S. (2007). Biology 9th Ed. McGraw Hill Higher Education, Boston, MA, USA. It correctly explains the mechanism underlying the laws of

Mendelian inheritance Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...

by identifying chromosomes with the paired

factors Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, su ...

(particles) required by Mendel's laws. It also states that chromosomes are linear structures with

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

s located at specific sites called loci along them. It states simply that chromosomes, which are seen in all dividing cells and pass from one generation to the next, are the basis for all genetic inheritance. Over a period of time random mutation creates changes in the DNA sequence of a gene. Genes are located on chromosomes.

Background

The chromosome theory of inheritance is credited to papers by

Walter Sutton Walter Stanborough Sutton (April 5, 1877 – November 10, 1916) was an American geneticist and physician whose most significant contribution to present-day biology was his theory that the Mendelian laws of inheritance could be applied to chrom ...

in 1902 and 1903, as well as to independent work by

Theodor Boveri Theodor Heinrich Boveri (12 October 1862 – 15 October 1915) was a German zoologist, comparative anatomist and co-founder of modern cytology. He was notable for the first hypothesis regarding cellular processes that cause cancer, and for descr ...

during roughly the same period. Boveri was studying sea urchins, in which he found that all the chromosomes had to be present for proper embryonic development to take place. Sutton's work with grasshoppers showed that chromosomes occur in matched pairs of maternal and paternal chromosomes which separate during meiosis and "may constitute the physical basis of the Mendelian law of heredity". This groundbreaking work led E.B. Wilson in his classic text to name the chromosome theory of inheritance the "Sutton-Boveri Theory". Wilson was close to both men since the young Sutton was his student and the prominent Boveri was his friend (in fact, Wilson dedicated the aforementioned book to Boveri). Although the naming precedence is now often reversed to "Boveri-Sutton", there are some who argue that Boveri did not actually articulate the theory until 1904.

Verification

The proposal that chromosomes carried the factors of Mendelian inheritance was initially controversial, but in 1913 it gained strong support when Eleanor Carothers documented definitive evidence of independent assortment of chromosomes in a species of grasshopper.Crow, E.W. and Crow, J. F.
100 Years Ago: Walter Sutton and the Chromosome Theory of Heredity
''Genetics,'' Vol. 160, 1-4, January 2002 Debate continued, however, until 1915 when

Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that ...

's work on inheritance and genetic linkage in the fruit fly ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with ...

'' provided incontrovertible evidence for the proposal. The unifying theory stated that inheritance patterns may be generally explained by assuming that genes are located in specific sites on chromosomes.

References

External links

Each Organism's Traits Are Inherited from a Parent through Transmission of DNA
SciTable by Nature Education. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boveri-Sutton Chromosome Theory Biology theories Cell biology History of genetics