Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws).

L'ereditarietà (da cui l'aggettivo "ereditario") è il trasferimento delle caratteristiche dal genitore alla prole, che avviene attraverso i geni o attraverso una istituzione sociale chiamata eredità (per esempio, un titolo nobiliare viene tramandato da individuo a individuo secondo le usanze e/o le leggi del caso).

Biology

Biologia

In biology, heredity refers to the transference of biological characteristics from a parent organism to offspring, and is practically a synonym for genetics, as genes are now recognized as the carriers of biological information.

In biologia, l'ereditarietà si riferisce al trasferimento delle caratteristiche biologiche da un genitore alla sua progenie e, in questo senso, diventa sinonimo di genetica, poiché, come oggi sappiamo, i geni sono i portatori dell'informazione biologica.

In humans, defining which characteristics of a final person are due to heredity and which are due to environmental influences is often a site of controversy (the nature versus nurture debate), especially regarding intelligence and race.

Nella specie umana, definire quali caratteristiche dell'individuo siano da attribuirsi all'ereditarietà e quali siano da attribuirsi alle influenze ambientali è spesso fonte di controversie (dibattito su eredità contro apprendimento o, come dicono gli anglosassoni, "nature vs. nurture"), specialmente per ciò che concerne l'intelligenza e la razza.

History of heredity in biology

Storia dell'ereditarietà in biologia

It was apparent to ancient humans that offspring resembled their parents.

Ai nostri avi risultava evidente che i figli assomigliassero ai genitori.

For example, Genesis 30-46 tells how Jacob and Laban split their sheep into white and speckled varieties so they could distinguish the two to ensure none was later stolen.

Per esempio, in Genesi 30-46 si narra di come Giacobbe e Labano dividessero le loro pecore in varietà bianche e chiazzate in modo da poter distinguere i due gruppi e assicurarsi che in seguito nessuna venisse rubata.

Although it was clear that traits were hereditary, the precise mechanism of heredity was however not clear.

Benché fosse chiaro che i tratti venivano ereditati, non altrettanto chiaro era il meccanismo preciso dell'ereditarietà.

Various hereditary mechanisms were envisaged without being properly tested or quantified.

Si ipotizzarono vari meccanismi ereditari, senza tuttavia sperimentarli e quantificarli in modo appropriato.

These included blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired characters.

Fra questi, ricordiamo le ipotesi di ereditarietà a mescolamento (blending inheritance) e di ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti.

Nevertheless, people were able to develop domestic breeds animals through artificial selection.

L'uomo fu comunque in grado di creare razze domestiche di animali attraverso la selezione artificiale.

The inheritance of acquired characters formed part of early Lamarckian ideas on evolution.

L'ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti costituì parte delle prime idee di Lamarck sull'evoluzione.

Charles Darwin proposed a theory of evolution in 1859 and one of its major problems was a lack of coherent hereditary mechanism.

Nel 1859 Charles Darwin propose la sua teoria evolutiva ma uno dei  problemi maggiori della teoria era la mancanza di un meccanismo ereditario coerente.

Darwin believed in a mix of blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired characteristics (pangenesis).

Darwin era convinto che il meccanismo corretto fosse una fusione fra l'ereditarietà a mescolamento e l'ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti (pangenesi).

Blending inheritance would lead to uniformity across populations in only a few generations and thus would remove variation from a population on which natural selection could act.

L'ereditarietà a mescolamento avrebbe creato uniformità all'interno delle popolazioni nell'arco di poche generazioni e avrebbe quindi tolto varietà a una popolazione su cui poteva agire la selezione naturale.

This led to Darwin adopting some Lamarckian ideas in later editions of The Origin and his later biological works.

Ciò portò Darwin ad adottare alcune delle idee lamarckiane nelle successive edizioni della sua opera L'origine delle specie e nei suoi tardi studi di biologia.

Darwin's primary approach to heredity was to outline how it appeared to work (noticing that characteristics could be inherited which were not expressed explicitly in the parent at the time of reproduction, that certain characteristics could be sex-linked, etc.) rather than suggesting mechanisms.

L'approccio fondamentale di Darwin all'ereditarietà consistette nel descriverne le modalità di funzionamento apparenti piuttosto che nel suggerire dei meccanismi esplicativi (notò per esempio che alcune caratteristiche potevano essere ereditate anche se non si manifestavano esplicitamente nel genitore al momento della riproduzione o che altre caratteristiche erano legate al sesso, etc.).

Darwin's initial model of hereditary was adopted by, and then heavily modified by, his cousin Francis Galton, who laid the framework for the biometric school of heredity.

Il primo modello ereditario pensato da Darwin fu adottato, e modificato pesantemente, dal cugino Francis Galton, che gettò le basi della teoria biometrica dell'ereditarietà.

Galton rejected the aspects of Darwin's pangenesis model which relied on acquired characteristics.

Galton respinse la visione della pangenesi darwiniana che si fondava sui caratteri acquisiti.

The inheritance of acquired characteristics was shown to have little basis in the 1880s when August Weismann cut the tails off mice to find that their offspring did develop tails.

L'ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti si rivelò una teoria poco consistente nel decennio 1880-1890 quando August Weismann tagliò la coda a dei topi riscontrando che la loro prole sviluppava tranquillamente la coda.

The idea of particulate inheritance of genes can be attributed to the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel who published on pea plants in 1865.

L'idea dell'ereditarietà particolata dei geni è da attribuirsi al monaco austriaco Gregor Mendel che nel 1865 pubblicò i suoi studi sulle piante di pisello.

However, his work was not widely known and was only rediscovered in 1901.

Il suo lavoro non ebbe comunque un ampio riconoscimento e fu riscoperto solo nel 1901.

On rediscovery of Mendel's work it was initially assumed the Mendelian inheritance only accounted for large differences, such as those seen by Mendel in his pea plants -

Con la riscoperta dell'opera di Mendel, inizialmente si pensò che la sua teoria valesse solo per l'ereditarietà delle differenze più grossolane, come quelle osservate da Mendel nelle piante di pisello;

and the additive effect of genes was not realised until Ronald Fisher's (1918) paper on "The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance."

e l'effetto additivo dei geni non fu compreso fino a quando Ronald Fisher pubblicò nel 1918 il suo studio intitolato "La correlazione tra parenti basata sull'ipotesi dell'ereditarietà mendeliana".

For the subsequent history of genetics, see history of genetics.

Per gli avvenimenti successivi, vedi storia della genetica.

In the 1930s, work by Fisher and others resulted in a combination of Mendelian and biometric schools into the modern synthesis of evolution.

Intorno al 1930, gli studi di Fisher e di altri sfociarono in una combinazione delle teorie mendeliane e delle teorie biometriche, dando luogo alla sintesi moderna dell'evoluzione.

Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union emphasised incorrectly the inheritance of acquired characters. The inheritance of acquired characters appealed to the communist leaders, Lysenkoist movement being led by Trofim Lysenko.

In Unione Sovietica, il lysenkismo enfatizzò erroneamente l'ereditarietà dei caratteri acquisiti, che affascinò alquanto i leader comunisti durante quel movimento chiamato lysenkismo, capeggiato appunto da Trofim Lysenko.

This led to food shortages into the 1960s and seriously affected the USSR.

Ciò provocò mancanza di cibo negli anni '60 e colpì drammaticamente l'URSS.

Sociology

Sociologia

The social institution called inheritance.

L'istituzione sociale chiamata eredità.

One's bloodline is one's familial ancestry.

La linea di sangue di un individuo è l'insieme dei suoi antenati.

See also meme.

Vedi anche meme.

Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws).

Biology

In biology, heredity refers to the transference of biological characteristics from a parent organism to offspring, and is practically a synonym for genetics, as genes are now recognized as the carriers of biological information.

In humans, defining which characteristics of a final person are due to heredity and which are due to environmental influences is often a site of controversy (the nature versus nurture debate), especially regarding intelligence and race.

History of heredity in biology

It was apparent to ancient humans that offspring resembled their parents.

For example, Genesis 30-46 tells how Jacob and Laban split their sheep into white and speckled varieties so they could distinguish the two to ensure none was later stolen.

Although it was clear that traits were hereditary, the precise mechanism of heredity was however not clear.

Various hereditary mechanisms were envisaged without being properly tested or quantified.

These included blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired characters.

Nevertheless, people were able to develop domestic breeds animals through artificial selection.

The inheritance of acquired characters formed part of early Lamarckian ideas on evolution.

Charles Darwin proposed a theory of evolution in 1859 and one of its major problems was a lack of coherent hereditary mechanism.

Darwin believed in a mix of blending inheritance and the inheritance of acquired characteristics (pangenesis).

Blending inheritance would lead to uniformity across populations in only a few generations and thus would remove variation from a population on which natural selection could act.

This led to Darwin adopting some Lamarckian ideas in later editions of The Origin and his later biological works.

Darwin's primary approach to heredity was to outline how it appeared to work (noticing that characteristics could be inherited which were not expressed explicitly in the parent at the time of reproduction, that certain characteristics could be sex-linked, etc.) rather than suggesting mechanisms.

Darwin's initial model of hereditary was adopted by, and then heavily modified by, his cousin Francis Galton, who laid the framework for the biometric school of heredity.

Galton rejected the aspects of Darwin's pangenesis model which relied on acquired characteristics.

The inheritance of acquired characteristics was shown to have little basis in the 1880s when August Weismann cut the tails off mice to find that their offspring did develop tails.

The idea of particulate inheritance of genes can be attributed to the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel who published on pea plants in 1865.

However, his work was not widely known and was only rediscovered in 1901.

On rediscovery of Mendel's work it was initially assumed the Mendelian inheritance only accounted for large differences, such as those seen by Mendel in his pea plants -

and the additive effect of genes was not realised until Ronald Fisher's (1918) paper on "The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance."

For the subsequent history of genetics, see history of genetics.

In the 1930s, work by Fisher and others resulted in a combination of Mendelian and biometric schools into the modern synthesis of evolution.

Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union emphasised incorrectly the inheritance of acquired characters. The inheritance of acquired characters appealed to the communist leaders, Lysenkoist movement being led by Trofim Lysenko.

This led to food shortages into the 1960s and seriously affected the USSR.

Sociology

The social institution called inheritance.

One's bloodline is one's familial ancestry.

See also meme.