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{{Short description|Genetics as a theme in fiction}}
{{good article}}
[[File:Frankenstein's monster (Boris Karloff).jpg|thumb|[[Boris Karloff]] in [[James Whale]]'s 1931 film ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'', based on [[Mary Shelley]]'s 1818 [[Frankenstein|novel]]. [[Frankenstein's monster|The monster]] is created by an unorthodox scientific experiment.]]

Aspects of [[genetics]] including [[mutation]], [[hybridisation (biology)|hybridisation]], [[cloning]], [[genetic engineering]], and [[eugenics]] have appeared in fiction since the 19th century.

Genetics is a young science, having started in 1900 with the rediscovery of [[Gregor Mendel]]'s study on the inheritance of [[phenotypic trait|traits]] in pea plants. During the 20th century it developed to create new sciences and technologies including [[molecular biology]], [[DNA sequencing]], cloning, and genetic engineering. The [[bioethics|ethical implications]] were brought into focus with the eugenics movement.

Since then, many [[science fiction]] novels and films have used aspects of genetics as plot devices, often taking one of two routes: a genetic accident with disastrous consequences; or, the feasibility and desirability of a planned genetic alteration. The treatment of science in these stories has been uneven and often unrealistic. The film ''[[Gattaca]]'' did attempt to portray science accurately but was criticised by scientists.

==Background==
{{see|History of genetics}}
[[File:DNA chemical structure.svg|thumb|upright|The 1953 discovery of the [[double helix]] chemical structure of [[DNA]] transformed [[genetics]] and launched the science of [[molecular biology]].]]

Modern genetics began with the work of the monk [[Gregor Mendel]] in the 19th century, on the inheritance of [[phenotypic trait|traits]] in pea plants. Mendel found that visible traits, such as whether peas were round or wrinkled, were [[particulate inheritance|inherited discretely]], rather than by [[blending inheritance|blending]] the attributes of the two parents.<ref name="mendel">{{cite web |title=Mendel's Paper in English |url=http://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html |first=Roger B. |last=Blumberg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113051202/http://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html |archive-date=13 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 1900, [[Hugo de Vries]] and other scientists rediscovered Mendel's research; [[William Bateson]] coined the term "genetics" for the new science, which soon investigated a wide range of phenomena including [[mutation]] (inherited changes caused by damage to the genetic material), [[genetic linkage]] (when some traits are to some extent inherited together), and [[hybridization (biology)|hybridisation]] (crosses of different [[species]]).<ref name="bateson_genetics">{{cite conference |last=Bateson |first=William |author-link=William Bateson |title=The Progress of Genetic Research |editor=Wilks, W. |book-title=Report of the Third 1906 International Conference on Genetics: Hybridization (the cross-breeding of genera or species), the cross-breeding of varieties, and general plant breeding |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |year=1907}}</ref> 

[[Eugenics]], the production of better human beings by selective breeding, was named and advocated by [[Charles Darwin]]'s cousin, the scientist [[Francis Galton]], in 1883. It had both a positive aspect, the breeding of more children with high intelligence and good health; and a negative aspect, aiming to suppress "race degeneration" by preventing supposedly "defective" families with attributes such as profligacy, laziness, immoral behaviour and a tendency to criminality from having children.<ref>{{cite web |last=Claude Moore Health Sciences Library |title=Origins of Eugenics: From Sir Francis Galton to Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 |url=http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/eugenics/2-origins/ |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=20 July 2018 |date=2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328131644/http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/eugenics/2-origins/ |archive-date=28 March 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=DNA: The Secret of Life |last1=Watson |first1=James D. |author1-link=James D. Watson |last2=Berry |first2=Andrew |date=2009 |publisher=Knopf}}</ref> 

[[Molecular biology]], the interactions and [[gene regulation|regulation]] of genetic materials, began with the identification in 1944 of [[DNA]] as the main genetic material;<ref name=Avery_et_al>{{cite journal |doi=10.1084/jem.79.2.137 |last1=Avery |first1=Oswald T. |author1-link=Oswald Avery |last2=MacLeod |first2=C. M. |last3=McCarty |first3=M. |title=Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types: Induction of Transformation by a Desoxyribonucleic Acid Fraction Isolated from Pneumococcus Type III |journal=The Journal of Experimental Medicine |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=137–58 |year=1944 |pmid=19871359 |pmc=2135445}} Reprint: {{cite journal |pmid=33226 |year=1979 |last1=Avery |first1=Oswald T. |author1-link=Oswald Avery |last2=MacLeod |first2=C. M. |last3=McCarty |first3=M. |title=Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. Inductions of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from pneumococcus type III |volume=149 |issue=2 |pages=297–326 |journal=The Journal of Experimental Medicine |doi=10.1084/jem.149.2.297|pmc=2184805}}</ref> the [[genetic code]] and the [[double helix]] structure of DNA was determined by [[James Watson]] and [[Francis Crick]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology |last=Judson |first=Horace |author-link=Horace Freeland Judson |year=1979 |publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press |isbn=978-0-87969-477-7 |pages=51–169}}</ref><ref name=watsoncrick_1953a>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/watsoncrick.pdf |doi=10.1038/171737a0 |title=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid |year=1953 |last1=Watson |first1=James D. |author1-link=J. D. Watson |last2=Crick |first2=Francis H. |author2-link=Francis Crick  |journal=Nature |volume=171 |pages=737–8 |pmid=13054692 |issue=4356 |bibcode=1953Natur.171..737W |s2cid=4253007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204110320/http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/watsoncrick.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[DNA sequencing]], the identification of an exact sequence of genetic information in an organism, was developed in 1977 by [[Frederick Sanger]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Brown, T. A. |title=Genomes 2 |edition=2nd |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-85996-228-2 |chapter-url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21117/ |chapter=Section 2, Chapter 6: 6.1. The Methodology for DNA Sequencing |publisher=Bios |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901155911/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=genomes.section.6452 |archive-date=1 September 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> 

[[Genetic engineering]], the modification of the genetic material of a live organism, became possible in 1972 when [[Paul Berg]] created the first [[recombinant DNA]] molecules (artificially assembled genetic material) using [[virus]]es.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.69.10.2904 |last1=Jackson |first1=D. A. |last2=Symons |first2=R. H. |last3=Berg |first3=P. |first8=David A. Jackson Robert H. Symons and Paul Berg |title=Biochemical Method for Inserting New Genetic Information into DNA of Simian Virus 40: Circular SV40 DNA Molecules Containing Lambda Phage Genes and the Galactose Operon of Escherichia coli |journal=PNAS |date=1 October 1972 |volume=69 |issue=10 |pages=2904–2909 |pmid=4342968 |pmc=389671 |bibcode=1972PNAS...69.2904J|doi-access=free }}</ref> 

[[Cloning]], the production of genetically identical organisms from some chosen starting point, was shown to be practicable in a mammal with the creation of [[Dolly the sheep]] from an [[somatic cell|ordinary body cell]] in 1996 at the [[Roslin Institute]].<ref name=j1>{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=J. |title=Why dolly matters: Kinship, culture and cloning |journal=Ethnos| volume=64 |issue=3–4 |pages=301–324 |year=1999 |doi=10.1080/00141844.1999.9981606}}</ref>

==Genetics themes==

===Mutants and hybrids===
{{further|Mutants in fiction}}
[[File:IslandOfDrMoreau.JPG|thumb|upright|[[H. G. Wells]]'s  1896 ''[[The Island of Dr Moreau]]'' imagined the use of [[hybridisation (biology)|hybridisation]] to create [[Human–animal hybrid|human-like hybrid beings]].]]

[[Mutation]] and [[hybridisation (biology)|hybridisation]] are widely used in fiction, starting in the 19th century with [[science fiction]] works such as Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''[[Frankenstein]]'' and [[H. G. Wells]]'s  1896 ''[[The Island of Dr Moreau|The Island of Dr. Moreau]]''.<ref name=Moraga>{{cite journal |last=Moraga |first=Roger |title=Modern Genetics in the World of Fiction |url=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/moraga_11_09/ |journal=Clarkesworld Magazine |date=November 2009 |issue=38 |archive-date=19 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719114128/http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/moraga_11_09/ |url-status=live}}</ref> 

In her 1977 ''Biological Themes in Modern Science Fiction'', Helen Parker identified two major types of story: "genetic accident", the uncontrolled, unexpected and disastrous alteration of a species;<ref name=Parker1977>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Helen N. |title=Biological Themes in Modern Science Fiction |date=1977 |publisher=UMI Research Press |isbn=9780835715775 |url=https://archive.org/details/biologicalthemes00park}}</ref><ref name=Schmeink2017>{{cite book |last=Schmeink |first=Lars |title=Biopunk Dystopias Genetic Engineering, Society and Science Fiction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uz3jDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |year=2017 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-78138-332-2 |pages=8–}}</ref> and "planned genetic alteration", whether controlled by humans or [[Extraterrestrial life|aliens]], and the question of whether that would be either feasible or desirable.<ref name=Parker1977/><ref name=Schmeink2017/> In science fiction up to the 1970s, the genetic changes were brought about by [[radiation]], breeding programmes, or manipulation with chemicals or [[surgery]] (and thus, notes Lars Schmeink, not necessarily by strictly genetic means).<ref name=Schmeink2017/> Examples include ''The Island of Dr. Moreau'' with its horrible manipulations; [[Aldous Huxley]]'s 1932 ''[[Brave New World]]'' with a breeding programme; and [[John Taine]]'s 1951 ''[[Seeds of Life]]'', using radiation to create supermen.<ref name=Schmeink2017/> After the discovery of the double helix and then recombinant DNA, genetic engineering became the focus for genetics in fiction, as in books like [[Brian Stableford]]'s tale of a genetically modified society in his 1998 ''Inherit the Earth'', or [[Michael Marshall Smith]]'s story of [[Organ farming]] in his 1997 ''Spares''.<ref name=Schmeink2017/>

[[Science fiction comics|Comic books]] have imagined mutated [[superhumans]] with extraordinary powers. The [[DC Universe]] (from 1939) imagines "[[metahuman]]s"; the [[Marvel Universe]] (from 1961) calls them "[[Mutant (Marvel Comics)|mutants]]", while the [[Wildstorm]] (from 1992) and [[Ultimate Marvel]] (2000–2015) Universes name them "[[posthuman]]s".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burlingame |first1=Russ|title=The Flash: What are Metahumans? |url=http://comicbook.com/2014/10/04/the-flash-what-are-metahumans-/ |website=Comicbook.com |access-date=23 July 2016 |date=4 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617015315/http://comicbook.com/2014/10/04/the-flash-what-are-metahumans-/ |archive-date=17 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> 
Stan Lee introduced the concept of mutants in the Marvel X-Men books in 1963; the villain Magneto declares his plan to "make ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' bow to ''Homo superior''!", implying that mutants will be an evolutionary step up from current humanity. Later, the books speak of an X-gene that confers powers from [[puberty]] onwards. X-men powers include [[telepathy]], [[telekinesis]], healing, strength, flight, [[time travel]], and the ability to emit blasts of energy. Marvel's god-like Celestials are later (1999) said to have visited Earth long ago and to have modified human DNA to enable mutant powers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Booker |first=M. Keith |title=Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2J7DpUItEMC&pg=PA425 |year=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35746-6 |pages=425–431}}</ref>

[[James Blish]]'s 1952 novel ''Titan's Daughter'' (in [[Kendell Foster Crossen]]'s ''Future Tense'' collection) featured stimulated [[polyploidy]] (giving organisms multiple sets of genetic material, something that can create new [[species]] in a single step), based on spontaneous polyploidy in [[flowering plant]]s, to create humans with more than normal height, strength, and lifespans.<ref name=SFE/>

===Cloning===
{{see|Cloning#In popular culture}}
[[File:202007 Tyrannosaurus rex.svg|thumb|left|[[Steven Spielberg]]'s 1993 film ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' portrayed the recreation of [[dinosaur]]s from cloned fossil DNA.]]

[[Cloning]], too, is a familiar plot device.  [[Aldous Huxley]]'s 1931 dystopian novel ''[[Brave New World]]'' imagines the ''[[in vitro]]'' cloning of fertilised human [[Egg (biology)|eggs]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Huxley, Aldous |author-link=Aldous Huxley |title=Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited | page=19 |publisher=HarperPerennial |date=2005 |isbn=978-0060776091}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhelkar |first1=Ratnakar D. |title=Science Fiction: Fantasy and Reality |date=2009 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=9788126910366 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bvt_NyXYGb0C&q=Bokanovsky's%20Process&pg=PA58}}</ref> Huxley was influenced by [[J. B. S. Haldane]]'s 1924 non-fiction book ''[[Daedalus; or, Science and the Future]]'', which used the Greek myth of [[Daedalus]] to symbolise the coming revolution in genetics; Haldane predicted that humans would [[Directed evolution (transhumanism)|control their own evolution]] through directed [[mutation]] and [[in vitro fertilisation]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=More |first1=Max |last2=Vita-More |first2=Natasha |title=The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future |date=April 2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-33429-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeFo_20rfz0C&q=Daedalus;+or,+Science+and&pg=PT22}}</ref> Cloning was explored further in stories such as [[Poul Anderson]]'s 1953 ''UN-Man''.<ref name="stableford">{{cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian M. |title=[[Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia]] |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780415974608 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sciencefactscien0000stab/page/91 91–92] |chapter=Clone |author-link=Brian Stableford |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uefwmdROKTAC&q=cloning%20in%20science%20fiction&pg=PA91}}</ref> In his 1976 novel, [[The Boys from Brazil (novel)|The Boys from Brazil]], [[Ira Levin]] describes the creation of 96 clones of [[Adolf Hitler]], replicating for all of them the rearing of Hitler (including the death of his father at age 13), with the goal of resurrecting Nazism. In his 1990 novel ''[[Jurassic Park (novel)|Jurassic Park]]'', [[Michael Crichton]] imagined the recovery of the complete [[genome]] of a [[dinosaur]] from [[fossil]] remains, followed by its use to recreate living animals of an [[extinct]] species.<ref name=Moraga/>

Cloning is a recurring theme in science fiction films like ''Jurassic Park'' (1993), ''[[Alien Resurrection]]'' (1997), ''The 6th Day'' (2000), ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' (2002), ''[[Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones|Star Wars: Episode II]]'' (2002) and ''[[The Island (2005 film)|The Island]]'' (2005). The process of cloning is represented variously in fiction. Many works depict the artificial creation of humans by a method of growing cells from a tissue or DNA sample; the replication may be instantaneous, or take place through slow growth of human embryos in [[artificial womb]]s. In the long-running British television series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the [[Fourth Doctor]] and his companion [[Leela (Doctor Who)|Leela]] were cloned in a matter of seconds from DNA samples ("[[The Invisible Enemy (Doctor Who)|The Invisible Enemy]]", 1977) and then—in an apparent [[Homage (arts)|homage]] to the 1966 film ''[[Fantastic Voyage]]''—shrunk to microscopic size in order to enter the Doctor's body to combat an alien virus. The clones in this story are short-lived, and can only survive a matter of minutes before they expire.<ref name="muir">{{cite book |last1=Muir |first1=John Kenneth |title=A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television |date=2007 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476604541 |pages=258–259 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMKSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA259}}</ref> Films such as ''[[The Matrix]]'' and ''Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' have featured human [[foetus]]es being cultured on an industrial scale in enormous tanks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mumford |first=James |title=Ethics at the Beginning of Life: A Phenomenological Critique |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199673964 |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCnmRCDGJ0cC&pg=PA108}}</ref> 

Cloning humans from body parts is a common science fiction trope, one of several genetics themes parodied in [[Woody Allen]]'s 1973 comedy ''[[Sleeper (1973 film)|Sleeper]]'', where an attempt is made to clone an assassinated dictator from his disembodied nose.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Humber |first1=James M. |last2=Almeder|first2=Robert|title=Human Cloning|date=1998 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1592592050 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNGUBwAAQBAJ&q=woody+allen+sleeper+cloning+nose&pg=PA10}}</ref>

===Genetic engineering===

[[Genetic engineering]] features in many science fiction stories.<ref name="SFE">{{cite web |title=Genetic Engineering |url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/genetic_engineering |website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |access-date=19 July 2018 |date=15 May 2017 }}</ref> Films such as [[The Island (2005 film)|''The Island'']] <!--2005, as above--> (2005) and ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982) bring the engineered creature to confront the person who created it or the being it was cloned from, a theme seen in some film versions of ''Frankenstein''. Few films have informed audiences about genetic engineering as such, with the exception of the 1978 ''[[The Boys from Brazil (film)|The Boys from Brazil]]'' and the 1993 ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'', both of which made use of a lesson, a demonstration, and a clip of scientific film.<ref name=Moraga/><ref name=Wellcome>{{cite web |last=Clark |first=Michael |title=Genetic themes in fiction films: Genetics meets Hollywood |url=http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD023539.html |publisher=[[The Wellcome Trust]] |access-date=19 July 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518055848/http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD023539.html |archive-date=18 May 2012}}</ref> In 1982, [[Frank Herbert]]'s novel ''[[The White Plague]]'' described the deliberate use of genetic engineering to create a [[pathogen]] which specifically killed women.<ref name=SFE/> Another of Herbert's creations, the ''[[Dune (franchise)|Dune]]'' series of novels, starting with ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' in 1965, emphasises genetics. It combines [[selective breeding]] by a powerful sisterhood, the [[Bene Gesserit]], to produce a supernormal male being, the Kwisatz Haderach, with the genetic engineering of the powerful but despised [[Tleilaxu]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Koboldt |first1=Daniel |title=The Science of Sci-Fi: How Science Fiction Predicted the Future of Genetics |url=https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/16677-genetics-science-fiction-future |website=Outer Places |access-date=19 July 2018 |date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719233445/https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/16677-genetics-science-fiction-future |archive-date=19 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Eugenics===
[[File:Eugenics congress logo.png|thumb|1921 conference logo, depicting [[eugenics]] as a tree uniting many fields]]

[[Eugenics]] plays a central role in films such as [[Andrew Niccol]]'s 1997 ''[[Gattaca]]'', the title alluding to the letters G, A, T, C for [[guanine]], [[adenine]], [[thymine]], and [[cytosine]], the four [[nucleobase]]s of [[DNA]]. Genetic engineering of humans is unrestricted, resulting in [[genetic discrimination]], loss of diversity, and adverse effects on society. The film explores the [[Bioethics|ethical implications]]; the production company, Sony Pictures, consulted with a gene therapy researcher, [[William French Anderson|French Anderson]], to ensure that the portrayal of science was realistic, and test-screened the film with the Society of Mammalian Cell Biologists and the American [[National Human Genome Research Institute]] before its release. This care did not prevent researchers from attacking the film after its release. Philim Yam of ''[[Scientific American]]'' called it "science bashing"; in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' Kevin Davies called it a ""surprisingly pedestrian affair"; and the [[Molecular biology|molecular biologist]] [[Lee M. Silver|Lee Silver]] described the film's extreme [[genetic determinism]] as "a [[straw man]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/science/11gene.html?pagewanted=all |title=Now: The Rest of the Genome |first=Carl |last=Zimmer |date=November 10, 2008 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Kirby2000">{{cite journal |last=Kirby |first=David A. |title=The New Eugenics in Cinema: Genetic Determinism and Gene Therapy in "GATTACA" |journal=Science Fiction Studies |date=July 2000 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=193–215 |jstor=4240876}}</ref>

==Myth and oversimplification==

The [[geneticist]] Dan Koboldt observes that while science and technology play major roles in fiction, from [[fantasy]] and science fiction to [[thriller (genre)|thriller]]s, the representation of science in both literature and film is often unrealistic.<ref name="Koboldt2018">{{cite web |last1=Koboldt |first1=Daniel |title=Putting the Science in Fiction |url=http://dankoboldt.com/writing/putting-the-science-in-fiction/ |access-date=19 July 2018 |date=2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827213458/http://dankoboldt.com/writing/putting-the-science-in-fiction/ |archive-date=27 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> In Koboldt's view, genetics in fiction is frequently oversimplified, and some myths are common and need to be debunked. For example, the [[Human Genome Project]] has not (he states) immediately led to a ''Gattaca'' world, as the relationship between [[genotype]] and [[phenotype]] is not straightforward. People do differ genetically, but only very rarely because they are missing a [[gene]] that other people have: people have different [[allele]]s of the same genes. Eye and hair colour are controlled not by one gene each, but by multiple genes. Mutations do occur, but they are rare: people are 99.99% identical genetically, the 3 million differences between any two people being dwarfed by the hundreds of millions of DNA bases which are identical; nearly all DNA variants are inherited, not acquired afresh by mutation. And, Koboldt writes, believable scientists in fiction should know their knowledge is limited.<ref name="Koboldt2014">{{cite web |last1=Koboldt |first1=Daniel |title=Genetics Myths in Fiction Writing |url=http://dankoboldt.com/genetics-myths-fiction-writing/ |access-date=19 July 2018 |date=1 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719234712/http://dankoboldt.com/genetics-myths-fiction-writing/ |archive-date=19 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Evolution in fiction]]
* [[:Category:Fiction about genetic engineering]]
* [[Parasites in fiction]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Biology in fiction}}

[[Category:Genetics]]
[[Category:Biology in fiction]]