Genogeography

a research specialization bordering between genetics and biogeography that was formulated by A. S. Serebrovskii in 1928-29. The fundamental task of genogeography is to establish the geographic distribution and, as far as possible, the frequency of alleles that determine the principal characters and properties of the species of organism being studied within the total area of its distribution or in part of that area. Genogeography also studies the reasons for the distribution of alleles. Genogeographic studies can only be conducted on species in which experimental genetic investigations have established a connection between the characters studied and the genes. So-called phenogeography, which studies the geographic distribution of the elementary characters of a species within its area, has broader possibilities. Genogeography (as well as phenogeography) has great theoretical significance in research on the taxonomy and evolution of species. Genogeography has practical and applied value in establishing gene pools of domestic animals and cultivated plants as one of the bases of breed and varietal regionalization and selection. It also has uses in human genetics and, especially, in medical genetics.