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6 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define - phenotype? |
The characteristics of an organism as a result of: • its genotype • and the interaction of its genotype with the environment |
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In the exam, You might be asked to evaluate data on the relative influences of genes and the environment on genotype. It’s not always clear how much a phenotype is influenced by each. What kind of trials are useful? Why are these trials useful? |
Identical twin studies • identical twins are genetically identical - so any differences in phenotype must be due to environmental factors |
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• If a characteristic is very similar in identical twins - genetics probably plays a more important role • If a characteristic is different between twins - the environment must have a larger influence |
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Why can environmental factors lead to a different characteristic between identical twins? |
• Identical twins have very similar epigenetic marks when they are born and in the first years of their life However • Epigenetic marks occur in response to changes in the environment as they get older, leads to different Epigenomes (the epigenetic marks that have been added to the entire genome) |
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Environmental factors capable of causing epigenetic changes include: |
• diet •physical exercise • stress |
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Data that comes from twin studies involving a large sample size (i.e. lots of pairs of twins) is better for drawing valid conclusions than data based on a small sample size. Why? |
Large sample size is more representative of the population |
