Question

The chromosomal theory of linkage was contributed by

• A. Morgan
• B. Punnett
• C. Bateson
• D. Boveri

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Linkage is the phenomenon of certain genes staying together during inheritance through generations without any change or separation due to their presence on the same chromosome. Linkage was first suggested by Sutton and Boveri $(1902-1903)$ when they propounded the famous "chromosomal theory of inheritance." Bateson and Punnett $(1906)$ while working on sweet pea found that the factors for certain characters do not show independent assortment. However, it was Morgan $(1910)$ who clearly proved and defined linkage on the basis of his breeding experiments in fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. In $1911$, Morgan and Castle proposed chromosome theory of linkage.