Susumu Ohno facts for kids
Susumu Ohno (born February 1, 1928 – died January 13, 2000) was a very important Japanese scientist. He studied genes and how living things change over time, which is called evolution. He moved to the United States in 1951 and later became an American citizen.
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About Susumu Ohno
Susumu Ohno was born in Seoul, Korea, on February 1, 1928. His family moved back to Japan in 1945 after the war ended.
He loved horses his whole life, and this love made him want to study science. He earned his first science degree in veterinary science from Tokyo University in 1949. Later, he earned two more advanced degrees from Hokkaido University.
Ohno's Big Ideas in Science
Susumu Ohno had some really important ideas about how living things change and develop.
Gene Duplication and Evolution
In his famous book, Evolution by Gene Duplication (1970), Ohno suggested that something called gene duplication is super important for evolution. Imagine you have a recipe for making a cake. If you make a copy of that recipe, you can still make the original cake. But now you have a second copy! You could change the second copy to make a new kind of cake, like a chocolate cake, without losing the ability to make the original.
This is similar to what happens with genes. When a gene makes a copy of itself, one copy can keep doing its original job. The other copy is then free to change and develop a completely new job. This means living things can get new features or abilities without losing the important ones they already have. Scientists have since found a lot of proof that gene duplication is a key way life evolves.
Whole Genome Duplication
Ohno also thought that the entire set of genes in animals with backbones (called vertebrates) might have been copied one or more times a long, long time ago. This idea is sometimes called the 2R hypothesis. It suggests that a very early ancestor of all vertebrates might have doubled its whole genome.
Ohno's Law and Junk DNA
He also noticed something special about the X chromosome in mammals. He said that the genes on the X chromosome tend to stay the same across different species. This idea is now known as Ohno's law.
Ohno also came up with the term "Junk DNA". This term describes parts of our DNA that don't seem to have a known job. Even though he called it "junk," scientists are still learning about what these parts of DNA might do.
More to Explore
- Tamil work by Susumu Ohno
See also
In Spanish: Susumu Ohno para niños
