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Background and Environment Affect Phenotype

Background and Environment Affect Phenotype

Although the genetic makeup of an organism plays a major role in determining the phenotype, there are also several environmental factors, such as temperature, oxygen availability, presence of mutagens, that can alter an organism’s phenotype.
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...

Inheritance

Inheritance

Gregor Mendel's pioneering work on the principles of inheritance fundamentally transformed our understanding of how traits are transmitted from generation to generation. His experiments with pea plants laid the groundwork for the discovery of genes, discrete units within organisms that control heredity.
Each gene exists in pairs, and the combination of these genes from both parents forms an individual's genotype. This genotype is a blueprint of potential traits. Examples of genotype...

Polygenic Traits

Polygenic Traits

When more than one gene is responsible for a given phenotype, the trait is considered polygenic. Human height is a polygenic trait. Studies have uncovered hundreds of loci that influence height, and there are believed to be many more. Due to the high number of genes involved, as well as environmental and nutritional factors, height varies significantly within a given population. The distribution of height forms a bell-shaped curve, with relatively few individuals in the population at the...

Polygenic Traits

Polygenic Traits

Position-effect Variegation

Position-effect Variegation

In 1928, a German botanist Emil Heitz observed the moss nuclei with a DNA binding dye. He observed that while some chromatin regions decondense and spread out in the interphase nucleus, others do not. He termed them euchromatin and heterochromatin, respectively. He proposed that the heterochromatin regions reflect a functionally inactive state of the genome. It was later confirmed that heterochromatin is transcriptionally repressed, and euchromatin is transcriptionally active chromatin.

Law of Independent Assortment

Law of Independent Assortment

While Mendel’s Law of Segregation states that the two alleles for one gene are separated into different gametes, a different question of how different genes are inherited remains. For example, is the gene for tall plants inherited with the gene for green peas? Mendel asked this question by experimenting with a dihybrid cross; a cross in which both parents are homozygous for two distinct traits resulting in an F1 generation that are heterozygous for both traits.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Published on: May 12, 2016

Developmental mechanisms underlying variable, invariant and plastic phenotypes.

Katie Abley¹, James C W Locke¹, H M Ottoline Leyser²

¹The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Bateman Street, Cambridge CB2 1LR, UK.

Annals of Botany

|April 14, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Phenotypic robustness in plants can mean stable traits, but also reliable plasticity or variability. Evolved mechanisms may favor these different strategies depending on the trait and environment for plant survival.

Keywords:

Noise canalization instability plasticity robustness.stochasticity variability

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Area of Science:

Plant Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Developmental Biology

Background:

Phenotypic robustness is often viewed as producing a single, invariant phenotype.
This perspective assumes developmental mechanisms buffer traits against environmental and stochastic changes.
However, plastic or variable phenotypes can also be advantageous in certain scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

Examine conditions favoring invariant, plastic, or variable plant phenotypes.
Discuss evolutionary mechanisms underlying these different phenotypic outcomes.
Re-evaluate the concept of robustness in plant development.

Main Methods:

Literature review synthesizing studies on phenotypic variation.
Analysis of existing research on developmental mechanisms in plants, microbes, and multicellular organisms.
Conceptual framework development for understanding phenotypic strategies.

Main Results:

Invariant phenotypes are not always optimal; plasticity and variability can confer selective advantages.
Mechanisms can evolve to reliably produce plasticity or variability, demonstrating robustness in these strategies.
The definition of robustness extends beyond a single invariant phenotype.

Conclusions:

Robustness can encompass consistent production of plastic or variable phenotypes.
Plant traits may evolve mechanisms for reliable phenotypic plasticity or variability.
Understanding these diverse strategies is crucial for plant adaptation and evolution.