BIOC15H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Adenine, Wild Type, Radiography
30 Sep 2016
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Pleiotropy: some important genes can affect more than 1 trait [1 gene, more than 1 trait (phenotype)] Ex 1: in maori men of new zealand a genetic disease caused by a single gene mutation causes respiratory problems and sterility [can"t produce offspring]. This pleiotropy occurs b/c the protein that the gene encodes is the protein that"s important to function of both cilia & flagella. Functioning cilia are needed to sweep particles out of airways. So, 2 very different complex traits [breathing & fertility] are both affected by 1 gene"s product. Ex 2: in mice there is pleiotropic gene that affects both hair color and overall viability [ability to live]; lack of viability is known as lethality [death] Lethal allele = causes death, usually early in development. If individual dies after birth, no trouble knowing what"s happening. If individual dies before birth, lethal allele caused death and make unexpected ratio in offspring. Look figure 2. 29 example of pleiotropy and lethality.
