WANI Dictionary

Germ-plasm theory

A theory in genetics stating that germ-line cells in the reproductive organ are responsible for the inheritance of genetic information.

This theory was proposed by August Weismann in 1892. The segregation between germ-line cells and somatic cells, the main concept of the germ-plasm theory, had a big impact in genetics, leading to the rejection of the inheritance of acquired characteristics and pangenesis.

Definitions in the literature

• Theory stating that cells in the reproductive organ carry a complete set of genetic information [1].
• A cornerstone of early neo-Darwinian thought was August Weismann's theory of the germ plasm, which proposed a segregation between germinal and somatic cells during development, thus ruling out the possibility that acquired characters could be inherited [2].