Detecting a Transposon Tag in Arabidopsis

Abstract:

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, geneticists assumed that a stable genome was a prerequisite for faithfully transmitting genes from one generation to the next.  Working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the post-WWII era, Barbara McClintock found quite a different story in maize (corn).  She observed numerous “dissociations” – broken and ring-shaped chromosomes – and traced the source of these mutations to the short arm of chromosome 9.  There she identified two related loci,   “dissociator” (Ds) and “activator” (Ac).

Subject:

Science and Technology

Grade Level:

Secondary, Post-secondary

Collection:

Dolan DNA Learning Center