Forward genetics a bare minimum for the appearance of specific phenotypes. However, such initial screens were either incomplete as they were missing redundant loci and epigenetic effects, and such screens were difficult to undertake for certain phenotypes that lack directly measurable phenotypes. Additionally a classical genetics approach takes significantly longer. Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plant phenotypes and published his conclusions about genes and inheritance in 1865. Around the early 1900s Thomas Hunt Morgan was mutating Drosophila using radium and attempting to find heritable mutations Alfred Sturtevant later began mapping genes of Drosophila with mutations they had been following. In the 1990s
Plant genetics to crop plants. Understanding and manipulating of plant genetics was in its heyday during the Green Revolution brought about by Norman Borlaug. During this time, the molecule of heredity, DNA, was also discovered, which allowed scientists to actually examine and manipulate genetic information directly. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains