gene pool
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gene pool,
the total of all genesgene,the structural unit of inheritance in living organisms. A gene is, in essence, a segment of DNA that has a particular purpose, i.e., that codes for (contains the chemical information necessary for the creation of) a specific enzyme or other protein.
..... Click the link for more information. in a population of a particular species. See geneticsgenetics,
scientific study of the mechanism of heredity. While Gregor Mendel first presented his findings on the statistical laws governing the transmission of certain traits from generation to generation in 1856, it was not until the discovery and detailed study of the
..... Click the link for more information. .
Gene Pool
(Russian genofond), the qualitative composition and the relative quantity of the different forms (alleles) of the various genes in the population of one or another species of organism. By the term “gene pool” (the term in Russian was introduced by the Russian scientist A. S. Serebrovskii in 1928) is meant the allelic composition of the population or of all the members of the species, including all the variable characters and traits of the species or one or another selection from them, which is of interest to the researcher. When there is a sharp reduction in the number of individuals or a change in external conditions, the recessive gene pool— which is the sum total of recessive alleles that are for the most part excluded from natural selection—ensures that there will be a rapid change in the genetic makeup of the population. In the genetically less studied species, it is possible to determine the so-called phenotypic pool (a phene is an elementary character). Taking stock of hereditarily variable characters of farm animal and plant species under study, together with a determination of the frequencies of various alleles, is of great practical significance. The study of the gene pool of man has fundamental significance for human genetics.
REFERENCE
Serebrovskii, A. S. “Genogeografiia i genofond sel’skokhoziaistvennykh zhivotnykh SSSR.” Nauchnoe slovo, 1928, no. 9.N. V. TIMOFEEV-RESOVSKII