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Ch. 20 - Quantitative Genetics and Multifactorial Traits
Klug - Essentials of Genetics 10th Edition
Klug10th EditionEssentials of GeneticsISBN: 9780135588789Not the one you use?Change textbook
Chapter 20, Problem 10

List as many human traits as you can that are likely to be under the control of a polygenic mode of inheritance.

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Understand that polygenic inheritance refers to traits controlled by multiple genes, each contributing a small effect to the overall phenotype, often resulting in continuous variation rather than discrete categories.
Recall that polygenic traits typically show a range of phenotypes and are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.
List common human traits known to be polygenic, such as height, skin color, eye color, and weight, which do not follow simple Mendelian inheritance patterns.
Include other examples like intelligence, hair color, and susceptibility to certain diseases (e.g., diabetes or heart disease), which are influenced by multiple genes.
Summarize by noting that most complex traits involving continuous variation and multifactorial influences are likely polygenic.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Polygenic Inheritance

Polygenic inheritance refers to the control of a single trait by multiple genes, each contributing a small effect. Unlike Mendelian traits controlled by one gene, polygenic traits show continuous variation, such as height or skin color, due to the combined influence of several genes.
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Quantitative Traits

Quantitative traits are measurable phenotypes that vary continuously across a population, often influenced by many genes and environmental factors. Examples include weight, intelligence, and blood pressure, which do not fall into discrete categories but show a range of values.
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Environmental Influence on Polygenic Traits

Environmental factors can significantly affect the expression of polygenic traits, interacting with genetic components to shape the phenotype. For instance, nutrition impacts height, and sun exposure affects skin color, demonstrating that both genes and environment contribute to these traits.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question

Erma and Harvey were a compatible barnyard pair, but a curious sight. Harvey's tail was only 6 cm long, while Erma's was 30 cm. Their F₁ piglet offspring all grew tails that were 18 cm. When inbred, an F₂ generation resulted in many piglets (Erma and Harvey's grandpigs), whose tails ranged in 4-cm intervals from 6 to 30 cm (6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, and 30). Most had 18-cm tails, while 1/64 had 6-cm tails and 1/64 had 30-cm tails.

If one of the 18-cm-tail F₁ pigs is mated with one of the 6-cm-tail F₂ pigs, what phenotypic ratio will be predicted if many offspring resulted? Diagram the cross.

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Textbook Question

In the following table, average differences of height, weight, and fingerprint ridge count between monozygotic twins (reared together and apart), dizygotic twins, and nontwin siblings are compared: 

Based on the data in this table, which of these quantitative traits has the highest heritability values?

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Textbook Question

What kind of heritability estimates (broad sense or narrow sense) are obtained from human twin studies?

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Textbook Question

In a cross between a strain of large guinea pigs and a strain of small guinea pigs, the F₁ are phenotypically uniform, with an average size about intermediate between that of the two parental strains. Among 1014 F₂ individuals, 3 are about the same size as the small parental strain and 5 are about the same size as the large parental strain. How many gene pairs are involved in the inheritance of size in these strains of guinea pigs?

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Textbook Question

What advantages do cDNA libraries provide over genomic DNA libraries? Describe cloning applications where the use of a genomic library is necessary to provide information that a cDNA library cannot.

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Textbook Question

Corn plants from a test plot are measured, and the distribution of heights at 10-cm intervals is recorded in the following table: 

 Height (cm)   Plants (no.)    

100          20    

110          60    

120          90    

130         130    

140         180   

 150         120    

160          70    

170         50    

180         40 

Calculate 

(a) the mean height, 

(b) the variance, 

(c) the standard deviation, and 

(d) the standard error of the mean. 

Plot a rough graph of plant height against frequency. Do the values represent a normal distribution? Based on your calculations, how would you assess the variation within this population?

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