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Heredity of phenotypic traits: a father and son with prominent ears and crowns. DNA structure. Bases are in the centre, surrounded by phosphate–sugar chains in a double helix. In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. [1]
The observation that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. [7] [8] The modern science of genetics, seeking to understand this process, began with the work of the Augustinian friar Gregor Mendel in the mid-19th century.
In humans, for example, eye colour is an inherited characteristic and an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of their parents. [21] Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome (genetic material) is called its genotype. [22]
Genetics tries to identify which traits are inherited and to explain how these traits are passed from generation to generation. Some traits are part of an organism's physical appearance, such as eye color or height. Other sorts of traits are not easily seen and include blood types or resistance to diseases. Some traits are inherited through ...
For example, the study of personality in chimpanzees by King and Figueredo in 1997 [31] was one of the first studies to apply the five-factor model in animal personality. It demonstrated the existence of personality traits in animals and provided a foundation for similar assessment strategies in future studies of personality in animals. [8]
[2] [3] [4] There is a genetic difference between domestic and wild populations. There is also a genetic difference between the domestication traits that researchers believe to have been essential at the early stages of domestication, and the improvement traits that have appeared since the split between wild and domestic populations.
These traits are polygenic. Significant genetic variants are present for most of the behavioral traits. There is a consistency in detection of genetic variants and genomic association for traits derived from pedigree. [3] Personality trait research has been conducted both for humans and non-human animals like dogs.
For example, if a gene that codes for a particular enzyme is expressed at high levels, the organism may produce more of that enzyme and exhibit a particular trait as a result. On the other hand, if the gene is expressed at low levels, the organism may produce less of the enzyme and exhibit a different trait. [22]