The Jaina Doctrine of Karma And The Science Of Genetics: An Introduction To The Science Of Genetics

Genetics is called the science of heredity. Genetics may be defined as the study of the way in which genes - the functional units of heritable material operate and are transmitted from parents to offsprings. Modern genetics also involves study of mechanism of gene action, that is the way in which the genetic material effects physiological reactions with in the cell. Heredity and variations, two sides of the same coin are the subject matter of the science of genetics. Heredity is the sum of all biological processes by which particular characteristics are transmitted from parents to their offsprings. Among organisms that produce sexually, progeny are not exact duplicates of their parents but usually vary in many traits.

In many languages the same words are used for both the inheritance of biological traits and the inheritance of property. Biological and legal inheritance are, however, very different processes. Inherited objects are actually transferred from one owner to another. Inherited traits are not offspring inherit a genetic constitution from their parents. The hereditary endowment, the sum total of the genes that the individual has received from both parents, is called the genotypes. The genotype must be contrasted to the phenotype, which is the organism's outward appearance: its bodily structure, physiological processes, behaviour etc. Although the genotype determines the broad limits of features on organism may develop, the features that actually develop i.e. the phenotype depends upon complex interactions between the genes and their environment. Since the environment, both internal and external, of an individual changes continuously, so does the phenotype. Thus the same individual shows different phenotypes in childhood, in adulthood and in old age. The genotypes, on the other hand, does not change during an individual's life time. In conducting genetic studies it is crucial to discover, the degree to which the observable that, the phenotype is attributed to the pattern of genes in the cells, the genotype and to what extent it arises from environmental influence.

The essence of heredity is the reproduction of carriers of genetic information, the genes. As a result, biological organisms, including human beings, reproduce organism resembling themselves, human children are always recognizable human and have phenotypes similar to those of their parents, on the other hand since the offspring of sexually reproducing organism receive varying combinations of genetic material from both parents, no two offspring (except for identical twins) have exactly the same genotype. The genetic resulting phenotype is never, exactly the same, even among identical twins.^[84]