Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 degree to which genotype affects phenotype depends on the trait. For example, the petal color in a pea plant is exclusively determined by genotype. The petals can be purple or white depending on the alleles present in the pea plant. [4] However, other traits are only partially influenced by genotype.
An organism's phenotype results from two basic factors: the expression of an organism's genetic code (its genotype) and the influence of environmental factors. Both factors may interact, further affecting the phenotype. When two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species, the species is called polymorphic.
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 ...
Wholly genetic disorders, such as Huntingtons, are inherited from parents' genes and are present before birth but the symptoms that develop after birth are delayed manifestations of the inherited trait. Disorders that are partially genetic, such as ALS and allergies, mean the organism has inherited a predisposition to develop a certain ...
An example of a botanical genetic polymorphism is heterostyly, in which flowers occur in different forms with different arrangements of the pistils and the stamens. The system is called heteromorphic self-incompatibility , and the general 'strategy' of stamens separated from pistils is known as herkogamy .
Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. [1] It is distinguished from genetic variability, which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to ...
The terms "primitive" and "advanced", etc., are not properly used in referring to a species or an organism as any species or organism is a mosaic of primitive and derived traits. Using "primitive" and "advanced" may lead to "ladder thinking" (compare the Latin term scala naturae 'ladder of nature'), [ 8 ] which is the thought that all species ...