Editing Heredity (section)

==Relation to theory of evolution==
{{See also|Evolution}}
When [[Charles Darwin]] proposed his theory of [[evolution]] in 1859, one of its major problems was the lack of an underlying mechanism for heredity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Anthony, J.F. |title=Introduction to Genetic Analysis |date=2012 |publisher=W.H. Freeman and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4292-2943-2 |page=14 |edition=10th |author2=Wessler, Susan R. |author3=Carroll, Sean B. |author4=Doebley, John}}</ref> Darwin believed in a mix of blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired [[phenotypic trait|traits]] ([[pangenesis]]). Blending inheritance would lead to uniformity across populations in only a few generations and then would remove variation from a population on which natural selection could act.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.genetics.org/content/183/3/757.full | title=Darwin and Genetics | author=Charlesworth, Brian | author2=Charlesworth, Deborah | name-list-style=amp | journal=Genetics | date=November 2009 | volume=183 | issue=3 | pages=757–766 | doi=10.1534/genetics.109.109991 | pmid=19933231 | pmc=2778973 | access-date=2013-03-26 | archive-date=2019-04-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429155439/http://www.genetics.org/content/183/3/757.full | url-status=live}}</ref> This led to Darwin adopting some [[Lamarckism|Lamarckian]] ideas in later editions of ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' and his later biological works.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The next evolutionary synthesis: from Lamarck and Darwin to genomic variation and systems biology | author=Bard, Jonathan BL | journal=Cell Communication and Signaling | date=2011 | volume=9 | issue=30 | doi=10.1186/1478-811X-9-30 | pages=30| pmc=3215633 | pmid=22053760 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Darwin's primary approach to heredity was to outline how it appeared to work (noticing that traits that were not expressed explicitly in the parent at the time of reproduction could be inherited, that certain traits could be [[sex-linked]], etc.) rather than suggesting mechanisms.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

Darwin's initial model of heredity was adopted by, and then heavily modified by, his cousin [[Francis Galton]], who laid the framework for the [[biometric]] school of heredity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/francisgalton.aspx |title=Francis Galton (1822-1911) |publisher=[[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]] |access-date=March 26, 2013 |archive-date=January 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130202832/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/francisgalton.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> Galton found no evidence to support the aspects of Darwin's pangenesis model, which relied on acquired traits.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A new perspective on Darwin's Pangenesis |author=Liu Y. |journal=Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc |date=May 2008 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=141–149 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2008.00036.x |pmid=18429766 |s2cid=39953275}}</ref>

The [[Lamarckism|inheritance of acquired traits]] was shown to have little basis in the 1880s when [[August Weismann]] cut the [[tail]]s off many generations of [[mouse|mice]] and found that their offspring continued to develop tails.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles | url=https://archive.org/details/biologyofbeliefu00lipt | url-access=registration | publisher=Hay House, Inc. | author=Lipton, Bruce H. | date=2008 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/biologyofbeliefu00lipt/page/12 12] | isbn=978-1-4019-2344-0}}</ref>