Question

The concept of an inborn error of metabolism was the first recognition of the relationship between gene activity and metabolic disease, made by

• A. Beadle and Tatum with parasitic molds
• B. Pauling and Itano with sickle-cell anaemia
• C. Archibold Garrod from general family inheritance patterns
• D. Watson and Crick, as a natural outcome of their model of DNA

Answer 1

The correct option is C Archibold Garrod from general family inheritance patterns

Archibold Garrod was studying the human disorder alkaptonuria. He collected family history information (as well as urine) from his patients. Based on discussions with Mendel advocate William Bateson, Garrod deduced that alkaptonuria is a recessive disorder. Garrod was also the first to propose the idea that diseases were "inborn errors of metabolism." He believed that diseases were the result of missing or false steps in the body's chemical pathways. Garrod attributed a biochemical role to genes and laid the groundwork for the next wave of discovery — the molecular basis of inheritance.

So, the correct option is 'Archibold Garrod from general family inheritance patterns'.