Deichmann Ute
Perspect Biol Med. 2014 Winter;57(1):57-77. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2014.0007.
The idea of chromosomes and genes as causal agents in development and heredity originated in late 19th-century cytology, and it was most strongly supported by Theodor Boveri and Edmund B. Wilson. The concept of genes, which was central and most fruitful in classical genetics, appeared, however, unappealing and insufficient to many for explaining complex biological phenomena such as development.Philosophical outlooks, among them "Lamarckian" and holistic predilections, played a significant role in scientists' objection to genes as causal factors. A wide conceptual gap between genetics and developmental biology ensued. The strongest attack on the concept of genes was launched by agronomist and politician Trofim Lysenko in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Brushing aside the "Mendelist-Morganist" methods of classical genetics, Lysenko put forward a holistic concept of heredity that incorporated development and heritable responses to environmental conditions, similar to Darwin's Pangenesis theory, though of course some 60 years later. Recent developments include the role of genes in research on epigenetic marks and in systems approaches based on embryological gene regulatory networks.
染色体和基因作为发育和遗传中的因果因子这一概念起源于19世纪晚期的细胞学，西奥多·博韦里和埃德蒙·B·威尔逊对此给予了最有力的支持。然而，基因概念在经典遗传学中虽核心且成果丰硕，却对许多人来说似乎缺乏吸引力且不足以解释诸如发育等复杂的生物学现象。哲学观点，包括“拉马克主义”和整体论偏好，在科学家反对将基因视为因果因素的过程中发挥了重要作用。遗传学和发育生物学之间因此出现了巨大的概念鸿沟。对基因概念最猛烈的抨击来自苏联斯大林时期的农学家兼政治家特罗菲姆·李森科。李森科摒弃了经典遗传学的“孟德尔—摩根主义”方法，提出了一个将发育以及对环境条件的可遗传反应纳入其中的整体遗传概念，这类似于达尔文的泛生论，不过当然晚了约60年。最近的进展包括基因在表观遗传标记研究以及基于胚胎基因调控网络的系统方法中的作用。
