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IMAGE: Fluorescence image of two zebrafish embryos - After switching off the Plexin-A1 gene (bottom), malformations of the nervous system occur, such as a pathological enlargement of the neural fluid spaces. view more
Credit: Dr. Gabriel Dworschak / University of Bonn
When the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel crossed white-flowering with purple-flowering pea plants in the mid-19th century, he made an interesting discovery: The offspring were all purple. He therefore called this trait dominant, while the white blossom color was recessive. The reason for this phenomenon: In peas, each gene occurs twice. One version comes from the maternal plant and the other from the paternal plant. If a pea has inherited the gene for purple flower color from one parent, but the gene for white flower color from the other, purple wins. Only when two genes for white flowers come together in the offspring plant is it white.
Plexin-A1 gene plays a more extensive role in brain development, study shows
Study by the University of Bonn shows that mutations of the investigated gene manifest in different patterns of inheritance.
The so-called Plexin-A1 gene seems to play a more extensive role in brain development than previously assumed. This is shown by a current study led by the University Hospital Bonn and the Institute of Anatomy of the University of Bonn with more than 60 international partners. The gene is also interesting for another reason: Its mutations are inherited either dominantly or recessively, depending on which part of the gene is affected. The results of the study are now published in the journal Genetics in Medicine .