Editing Germ plasm (section)

{{Short description|Biological concept}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Germplasm]], a collection of genetic resources for an organism (such as seeds or embryos)}}
[[File:Weismann's Germ Plasm.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[August Weismann]]'s 1892 germ plasm theory. The hereditary material, the germ plasm, is transmitted only by the [[gonad]]s. Somatic cells (of the body) [[embryology|develop afresh]] in each generation from the germ plasm.]]
[[File:August Weismann.jpg|thumb|upright|August Weismann proposed the germ plasm theory in the 19th century, before the foundation of modern [[genetics]].]]

'''Germ plasm''' ({{Langx|de|Keimplasma}}) is a biological concept developed in the 19th century by the German biologist [[August Weismann]]. It states that heritable information is transmitted only by [[germ cells]] in the [[gonad]]s (ovaries and testes), not by [[somatic cells]]. The related idea that information cannot pass from somatic cells to the germ line, contrary to [[Lamarckism]], is called the [[Weismann barrier]]. To some extent this theory anticipated the development of modern [[genetics]].