BIOLOGY 2C03 Lecture Notes - Sample Size Determination, Epistasis, Hmga2

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOLOGY 2C03
• Professor: Bhagwati Gupta

Document Summary

Thus far we have learned about mendelian inheritance and population genetics, where we see that many traits are determined by 1 or 2 genes with a large effect. What about human height, crop yields, running speed, behaviour, etc. many genes and the environment play a role in these phenotypes. The genetic analysis of complex characteristics is known as quantitative genetics. Many interesting traits do not show simple patterns of inheritance. Note: each gene or locus still follows the rules of mendelian inheritance. Qualitative characteristics: exhibits only a few distinct phenotypes. May be determined by one gene with many alleles or multiple genes. Phenotype: dwarf, short, medium, tall, very tall. Quantitative characteristics: continuous variation within a range of phenotypes: many are polygenic, often affected by variation in the environment, even one gene can display this, often both play a role (multifactorial) Phenotype: a quantitative measurement (number) of height such as 21cm,