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3.1 outline the roles of Sutton and Boveri in identifying the importance of chromosomes
outline the roles of Sutton and Boveri in identifying the importance of chromosomes
- Two scientists are credited with the discovery of the role of chromosomes in 1902. They were the German scientist Theodor Boveri and the American microbiologist Walter Sutton.
- Boveri worked on sea urchins and showed that their chromosomes were not all the same and that a full complement was required for the normal development of an organism.
- Sutton worked on grasshoppers and showed that their chromosomes were distinct entities. He said even though they duplicate and divide they remain as a distinct structure. He associated the behaviour of chromosomes with Mendel’s work on the inheritance of factors and concluded that chromosomes were the carriers of hereditary units.
- Together their work became known as the Sutton-Boveri chromosome hypothesis.