News tagged with genotype

The genotype is the genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or an individual (i.e. the specific allele makeup of the individual) usually with reference to a specific character under consideration. For instance, the human albino gene has two allele forms, dominant A and recessive a, and there are three possible genotypes- AA (homozygous dominant), Aa (heterozygous), and aa (homozygous recessive).

It is a generally accepted theory that inherited genotype, transmitted epigenetic factors, and non-hereditary environmental variation contribute to the phenotype of an individual.

Non-hereditary DNA mutations are not classically understood as representing the individual's genotype. Hence, scientists and physicians sometimes talk for example about the (geno)type of a particular cancer, that is the genotype of the disease as distinct from the diseased.

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