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The study of human genetic variation has evolutionary significance and medical applications. It can help scientists reconstruct and understand patterns of past human migration. In medicine, study of human genetic variation may be important because some disease-causing alleles occur more often in certain population groups.
Medical genetics is the application of genetics to medical care. It overlaps human genetics, for example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics, while the diagnosis, management, and counseling of individuals with genetic disorders would be considered part ...
Genetic variation can be identified at many levels. Identifying genetic variation is possible from observations of phenotypic variation in either quantitative traits (traits that vary continuously and are coded for by many genes, e.g., leg length in dogs) or discrete traits (traits that fall into discrete categories and are coded for by one or a few genes, e.g., white, pink, or red petal color ...
When studying complex human traits, it is impossible to use heritability analysis to determine the relative contributions of genes and environment, as such traits result from multiple causes interacting. [32] In particular, Feldman and Lewontin emphasize that heritability is itself a function of environmental variation. [33]
If a mutation occurs within a gene, the new allele may affect the trait that the gene controls, altering the phenotype of the organism. [8] However, while this simple correspondence between an allele and a trait works in some cases, most traits are more complex and are controlled by multiple interacting genes within and among organisms.
While the name "behavioural genetics" connotes a focus on genetic influences, the field broadly investigates the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence individual differences, and the development of research designs that can remove the confounding of genes and environment.
Human variability, or human variation, is the range of possible values for any characteristic, physical or mental, of human beings. Frequently debated areas of variability include cognitive ability , personality , physical appearance ( body shape , skin color , etc.) and immunology .
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution . Gregor Mendel , a Moravian Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno , was the first to study genetics scientifically.