Nov. 21, 1891 – April 5, 1970
Sturtevant was an American geneticist who in 1913 developed a technique for mapping the location of specific genes of the chromosomes in the fruit fly Drosophila. Sturtevant's method for "chromosome mapping", relies on the analysis of groups of linked genes.
In a classic paper in genetics (1913), he described the location of six sex-linked genes as deduced by the way in which they associate with each other. Sturtevant later discovered the so-called 'position effect', in which the expression of a gene depends on its position in relation to other genes.
He also demonstrated that crossing over between chromosomes is prevented in regions where a part of the chromosome material is inserted the wrong way round.
From Today In Science History
