We explain what a progenitor is in biology and what its importance is for genetic inheritance. Also, the legal use of the term.
What is a parent?
In genetics and other branches of biology, a progenitor is called a any of the two individuals who engender a progeny that is, to any of the two parents of the same generation of individuals. The term comes from Latin progignere“to beget,” and refers to our ancestors in a straight line, that is, to our parents, who begot us.
The parents of an individual are those who bring them into the world and with whom you are genetically related according to the laws of inheritance.
Both sexual reproduction, the result of mixing the gametes of its two parents, and asexual reproduction are valid, in which an individual (the parent), once a certain stage of maturation has been reached, undertakes a process of binary division or production of spores, with the final result of obtaining a new genetically identical individual (the progeny).
In many of these cases it is also possible to speak of a progenitor cell, especially in the case of prokaryotic individuals.
See also: Reproduction
Other uses of the term
In the legal framework of meaning, it is also used progenitor as a term that refers indifferently to any of the parents of an individual (or several, if they are brothers).
In some legislations the use of father and motherwhile in many others it has recently been decided to use progenitor as a way to include families made up of homosexual adults or so-called “unconventional families” in the provisions of inheritance and custody laws.
Continue with: Blended Family
References
- “Parental (genetics)” on Wikipedia.
- “Progenitor, ra” in the Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Progenitor” in Legal Encyclopedia.
- “Progenitor” in Educalingo.
