Abstract
THE fundamentals of this subject were outlined in a paper by E. B. Ford, who demonstrated how growth may be determined genetically by the most diverse means. Thus it may be under the control of a single factor-pair, or very numerous genes, approximately equal in effect, may co-operate. Again, while the genetic situation can influence cell-size or cell-division directly, the effect on growth is frequently indirect. For example, genes controlling the endocrine glands will modify total body size in mammals, as in recessive dwarfing in mice due to a factor-pair affecting the development of the anterior pituitary. Dr. Ford further discussed (1) the production by heterosis of increased size in the offspring of a wide cross, and (2) excess or reduction in hybrid size caused by mal-adjustment of the gene-complex. Similar considerations apply to differentiation, as in the case of a sex-linked factor producing dominant black-spotting in Platypoecilus and tumour formation in the hybrid between this and another form (Xiphophorus).
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HADDOW, A. Genetical Aspects of Growth, Normal and Abnormal. Nature 144, 823–824 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144823a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144823a0