Which of the following discoveries resulted in a Nobel Prize : -
A
X-rays induce sex-linked recessive lethal mutations
B
Cytoplasmic inheritance
C
Recombination of linked genes
D
Genetic engineering
The answer is A.
Solution
H. J. Muller showed in 1927, working with Drosophila, that X-rays induce mutations, including sex-linked recessive lethal mutations, which he detected with his ClB method. For this discovery of the production of mutations by X-ray irradiation, Muller received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1946. Cytoplasmic inheritance (Correns) and recombination of linked genes as such were not awarded Nobel Prizes; genetic engineering is a technology rather than a single discovery. So the discovery that X-rays induce sex-linked recessive lethal mutations resulted in a Nobel Prize.
ConceptMuller's discovery of X-ray mutagenesis
Principles of Inheritance and Variation in past papers
198 questions from this chapter have appeared across 27 exam years.
