Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Heritability may be estimated by comparing parent and offspring traits (as in Fig. 2). The slope of the line (0.57) approximates the heritability of the trait when offspring values are regressed against the average trait in the parents. If only one parent's value is used then heritability is twice the slope.
Epigenetic mechanisms. In biology, epigenetics is the study of heritable traits, or a stable change of cell function, that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. [1] The Greek prefix epi-(ἐπι-"over, outside of, around") in epigenetics implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional (DNA sequence based) genetic mechanism of inheritance. [2]
However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in their genotype: [5] a striking example is people with the inherited trait of albinism, who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to sunburn. [6] Heritable traits are known to be passed from one generation to the next via DNA, a molecule that encodes genetic information. [2]
The degree to which an organism's genes contribute to a complex trait is called heritability. [53] Measurement of the heritability of a trait is relative—in a more variable environment, the environment has a bigger influence on the total variation of the trait. For example, human height is a trait with complex causes.
The Mendelian gene is the classical gene of genetics and it refers to any heritable trait. This is the gene described in The Selfish Gene. [9] More thorough discussions of this version of a gene can be found in the articles Genetics and Gene-centered view of evolution.
A prerequisite for natural selection to result in adaptive evolution, novel traits and speciation is the presence of heritable genetic variation that results in fitness differences. Genetic variation is the result of mutations, genetic recombinations and alterations in the karyotype (the number, shape, size and internal arrangement of the ...
The heritability of a trait is the proportion of the total (phenotypic) variance (σ 2 P) that is attributable to genetic variance, whether it be the full genotypic variance, or some component of it. It quantifies the degree to which phenotypic variability is due to genetics: but the precise meaning depends upon which genetical variance ...
Heritability is a statistic used in the fields of breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population. [28]