Genetics and evolution: The marriage that rewrote the story of life

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Did you know Darwin was missing a key piece in his theory? Inheritance. Discover how Mendel and DNA completed the puzzle to create the theory of evolution we know today. A journey from peas to the human genome. #Genetics #DNA #Neodarwinism

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00:00The Marriage of Genetics and Evolution

00:02Darwin's theory of evolution was revolutionary, but it had a great mystery.

00:08It lacked the mechanism of inheritance.

00:11How were traits passed from one generation to another?

00:14The answer came from a monk, Gregor Mendel, while Darwin was publishing his work.

00:20Mendel was in his garden experimenting with peas,

00:23his discoveries about hereditary factors, now known as genes,

00:27and the laws of Mendelian inheritance laid the groundwork for genetics.

00:33For years, Darwin's and Mendel's followers seemed irreconcilable.

00:37However, in the early 20th century, a group of scientists like Ronald Fisher achieved the modern synthesis.

00:44This milestone united Darwin's natural selection with Mendel's genetics.

00:49It showed that the variation on which selection acts is not gradual,

00:53but arises from random mutations and genetic recombination.

00:56The distinction between genotype and phenotype was crucial.

01:01An organism can have a gene, the genotype.

01:05But its observable characteristics, the phenotype, are what interact with the environment.

01:11This scientific marriage was further solidified with the discovery of the DNA.

01:16Double Helix by Watson and Crick

01:18We finally had the molecule that carried genetic information.

01:23This milestone laid the foundation for the Human Genome Project,

01:26which was completed in 2003,

01:29giving us an unprecedented understanding of heredity.

01:34Evolution, once a majestic but incomplete theory,

01:37became a rigorous science with genetics as its foundation.

01:40Funny explainers.

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