Genetics (Definition)

• GENE

  A section of a long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule that carries information for the construction of a protein or part of a protein
• GENE

  • Influence or determine traits such as eye color, the ability of a bacterium to eat a certain sugar, or the number of peas in a pod
  • A virus has as few as a dozen genes
  • A simple roundworm has 5000 to 8000 genes, while a corn plant has 60,000
  • The construction of a human requires an estimated 50,000 genes
• Epistasis

  A gene's expression (expressed or not), can be impacted by the expression of another gene
• Epigenetics


  Involves factors at work that are not part of the DNA sequence but yet can influence gene expression
• Polygenic


  Many genes control one trait
• Pleiotropic

  One gene controls many traits