Information AboutPhenotype |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PHENOTYPE | |
| classical genetics | |
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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 of Molecular Biology . The interaction between genotype and phenotype has often been described using a simple equation: :genotype + environment → phenotype A slightly more nuanced version of the equation is: :genotype + environment + random-variation → phenotype An example of the importance of random variation in phenotypic expression is Drosophila flies in which number of eyes may vary (randomly) between left and right sides in a single individual as much as they do between different genotypes overall, or between clones raised in different environments. 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 ''. |
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