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A.Very very few traits have their variance explained only by the genetic variance,

B. even fewer are explained only by variance at a single locus and

C. yet even fewer have a locus that show a simple dominance / recessivity pattern.

  1. What does genetic variance mean in (A)? does it imply that environmental factors are at play
  2. So does (B) mean that mutliple genes affect traits?
  3. Does (C) mean that multiple alleles are at work as opposed to simply 2 alleles?

by the way, i'm not a science student, so explaining it in simple terms would be appreciated. thanks.

user40597
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  • I understood your question because I wrote the answer from which you took the quotes and I saw you having misunderstanding but no one else will understand your question. I am sorry if I am being too pedantic with you today. Can you please 1) use > symbol at the beginning of a quote to highlight it is a quote and 2) indicates where your quote is from. – Remi.b Feb 26 '18 at 04:30
  • FYI, when you think an answer answered your question, you can click on the checkmark next to the answer. – Remi.b Mar 28 '18 at 16:05

1 Answers1

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What does genetic variance mean in (A)? does it imply that environmental factors are at play

Yes and other things. For more information, have a look at Why is a heritability coefficient not an index of how “genetic” something is?

So does (B) mean that mutliple genes affect traits?

Yes, often many loci are involved in explaining the phenotypic variance.

Does (C) mean that multiple alleles are at work as opposed to simply 2 alleles?

multiple alleles or some other relationship between the two alleles than recessivity/dominance (such as additive, underdominance or overdominance, incomplete dominance). There might be epistasis among loci too.

Remi.b
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  • Thanks Remi, I appreciate the answers and will follow the posting protocol in a better way. I read the above captioned post and it went over my head. In a nutshell apart from genetic and environment factors, do you have a list of other factors at play in affecting traits? – user40597 Feb 26 '18 at 05:00
  • The "What is heritability coefficient not an index of how 'genetic something is?" post expounded on the concept of genetic variance. In essence, the two factors that affect trait phenotype is environment and genetics. – user40597 Feb 26 '18 at 19:57
  • Genetic variance, environmental variance and other things as explained in the section Other sources of phenotypic variance – Remi.b Feb 26 '18 at 20:07