Clouds Above the Gene Theory

Reports challenging current theories of the location of various genes on certain chromosomes or parts thereof have come from several sources. Mittwoch¹ recently raised doubt if genes determine sex as supposed; she postulated that chromosomes themselves may control the duration of the sex cycle, that sex differentiation may be initiated by differential growth of the cell, and that human chromosome Y may be responsible for increasing the number of mitoses. It was also assumed that the amount of DNA in a given cell has great importance in determining the cell's fate in future development.

Several recent studies have cast doubt upon the identification of genetic loci on different chromosomes and parts of them. Bias and Migeon2 reported difficulty in identifying the chromosomal locus of haptoglobin. Others have suspected it is on the short arm of the late-replicating D₁ chromosome. Bias and Migeon found a pedigree in which the short arm