The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution, or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size or eye color, that varies between individuals. Phenotype is determined to some extent by genotype, or by the identity of the alleles that an individual carries at one or more positions on the chromosomes. Many phenotypes are determined by multiple genes and influenced by environmental factors. Thus, the identity of one or a few known alleles does not always enable prediction of the phenotype. Nevertheless, because phenotypes are much easier to observe than genotypes (it doesn't take chemistry or sequencing to determine a person's eye color), classical genetics uses phenotypes to deduce the functions of genes. Breeding experiments can then check these inferences. In this way, early geneticists were able to trace inheritance patterns without any knowledge whatsoever of molecular biology. The interaction between genotype and phenotype has often been described using a simple equation: :genotype + environment → phenotype A phenotype is any detectable characteristic of an organism (i.e. structural, biochemical, physiological and behavioral) determined by an interaction between its genotype and environment (see genotype-phenotype distinction and phenotypic plasticity for a further elaboration of this distinction). The idea of the phenotype has been generalized by Richard Dawkins to include effects on other organisms or the environment in ''The Extended Phenotype''. ==See also== *Genetics *Trait Classical genetics
Hello, there is an article called trait that is linked to an article called Phenotype. The Phenotype article is nice and compact as it is, but it does not contain all the information in "trait". I'm sort of itching to merge the contents of "trait" to "Phenotype". The Phenotype article will get much longer, however it would be more complete (the contents of trait would go below all that is included in phenotype as of today). Also, the movement of "[biological] trait" to "phenotype" would open up the trait articlespace to allow for a redirect to "biological trait" and "computer science trait" What do you guys think?User:Raazer 16:43, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Resolved Discussion: added to article== Phenotype can be easily summarised as PHENOTYPE = GENOTYPE + ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS It would be misleading to say that the phenotype is coded solely by the genotype. The effect of environmental factors on the phenotype can be difficult to assess and can vary widely according to which phenotype you are examining but are still essential in determining every phenotype. Without sufficient warmth, water or light, plants will fail to grow normally regardless of genotype. Thalidomide victims have a normal genotype, but because of an environmental factor (the presence of thalidomide) they have an unfortunate abnormal phenotype. In the case of some animals, sex determination relies upon environmental factors. Kurzon (03 May 2005) - I don't quite like that equation, as it can be a bit misleading: one could mistakenly think that the phenotype is merely the genotype and environmental factors considered simultaneously, not their consequence for the organism. It's not a big issue - I think most readers will get it - but is there a better way of expressing this? Perhaps an arrow ( -> ) like in chemistry equations in place of the equals sign?
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Phenotype
Phenotype
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Phenotype
The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution, or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size or eye color, that varies between individuals. Phenotype is determined to some extent by genotype, or by the identity of the alleles that an individual carries at one or more positions on the chromosomes. Many phenotypes are determined by multiple genes and influenced by environmental factors. Thus, the identity of one or a few known alleles does not always enable prediction of the phenotype. Nevertheless, because phenotypes are much easier to observe than genotypes (it doesn't take chemistry or sequencing to determine a person's eye color), classical genetics uses phenotypes to deduce the functions of genes. Breeding experiments can then check these inferences. In this way, early geneticists were able to trace inheritance patterns without any knowledge whatsoever of molecular biology. The interaction between genotype and phenotype has often been described using a simple equation: :genotype + environment → phenotype A phenotype is any detectable characteristic of an organism (i.e. structural, biochemical, physiological and behavioral) determined by an interaction between its genotype and environment (see genotype-phenotype distinction and phenotypic plasticity for a further elaboration of this distinction). The idea of the phenotype has been generalized by Richard Dawkins to include effects on other organisms or the environment in ''The Extended Phenotype''. ==See also== *Genetics *Trait Classical genetics
Phenotype
Hello, there is an article called trait that is linked to an article called Phenotype. The Phenotype article is nice and compact as it is, but it does not contain all the information in "trait". I'm sort of itching to merge the contents of "trait" to "Phenotype". The Phenotype article will get much longer, however it would be more complete (the contents of trait would go below all that is included in phenotype as of today). Also, the movement of "[biological] trait" to "phenotype" would open up the trait articlespace to allow for a redirect to "biological trait" and "computer science trait" What do you guys think?User:Raazer 16:43, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Resolved Discussion: added to article== Phenotype can be easily summarised as PHENOTYPE = GENOTYPE + ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS It would be misleading to say that the phenotype is coded solely by the genotype. The effect of environmental factors on the phenotype can be difficult to assess and can vary widely according to which phenotype you are examining but are still essential in determining every phenotype. Without sufficient warmth, water or light, plants will fail to grow normally regardless of genotype. Thalidomide victims have a normal genotype, but because of an environmental factor (the presence of thalidomide) they have an unfortunate abnormal phenotype. In the case of some animals, sex determination relies upon environmental factors. Kurzon (03 May 2005) - I don't quite like that equation, as it can be a bit misleading: one could mistakenly think that the phenotype is merely the genotype and environmental factors considered simultaneously, not their consequence for the organism. It's not a big issue - I think most readers will get it - but is there a better way of expressing this? Perhaps an arrow ( -> ) like in chemistry equations in place of the equals sign?
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
P
PA | PB | PC | PD | PE | PF | PG | PH | PI | PJ | PK | PL | PM | PN | PO | PR | PS | PT | PU | PW | PX | PY | PZ |Words begining with Phenotype:
Phenotype
Phenotype
Phenotypes
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