Sex linkage
Herencia ligada al sexo
- Date
- 1910 · confidence high
- Place
- New York, United States
- Credited to
- Thomas Hunt Morgan
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Describes how inheritance patterns differ when a gene sits on a sex chromosome rather than an autosome, explaining why certain traits (such as eye colour in the fruit fly) affect males and females differently.
Morgan established it by studying the white-eye colour gene in Drosophila melanogaster.
What it led to
- Confirmation of the chromosomal theory of inheritance
- Diagnosis and genetic counselling for X-linked conditions
Built on
- Mendelian inheritance1865-1866
- Mendel's laws