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Genetics & Biotechnology vocabulary · Inheritance and Population Genetics

Trait

Meaning in genetics & biotechnology, with examples

/treɪt/nounCore term

In genetics & biotechnology, trait means: A characteristic of an organism, such as eye color, height, disease risk or drought tolerance, that can be passed on or influenced by genes.

In Turkish: özellik, karakter, nitelik

How it is used

Used in genetics, breeding and evolution. Traits can be simple (controlled by one gene) or complex (influenced by many genes and the environment). Breeders 'select for' useful traits, and GWAS look for variants linked to a trait. 'Sickle cell trait' means being a carrier.

Example sentences

  1. Height is a complex trait influenced by thousands of genetic variants.

  2. The breeders selected for a trait that gives the wheat better heat tolerance.

Common collocations

  • complex trait
  • inherited trait
  • quantitative trait
  • select for a trait
  • sickle cell trait
  • phenotypeThe observable characteristics of an organism, such as height, eye color or a disease, which result from its genes together with the environment.
  • inheritanceThe passing of genetic characteristics from parents to their offspring through genes.
  • GWASGenome-wide association study: a study that tests hundreds of thousands of genetic variants in many people to find which ones are more common in those with a particular trait or disease.
  • alleleOne of the different versions of a gene that can exist at the same position on a chromosome. You inherit one allele of each gene from each parent.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Inheritance and Population Genetics

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