MENDELISM IN HUMAN GENETICS : 100 YEARS ON

摘要

Genetics (Greek word - 'genes' = born) is a science without an objective past. But the genre of genetics was always roaming in the corridors of human psyche since antiquity. Experience with the selection of desirable traits in plants and animals led to the recognition of heritable traits early in the history of mankind. The account of heritable deformities in humans often appears in myths and legends. In Homer's "The Odyssey" (6th century B.C.), Ulysses encounters the Cyclops [race of savage one-eyed being ("kuklops" - Greek - round-eyed) in Greek mythology] who was a shepherd and a giant with one eye placed at the centre of his forehead, A similar genetic disorder, known as cyclopia, is known in lamb and human.