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MCB 140, 12-8-06 9
In this example, a trait (color) is
controlled by three loci, A, B,
and C, each of which occurs in
only 2 alleles.
The actions of the alleles is
somewhat additive, in other
words, an aabbcc organism is all
white, whereas an AABBCC
organism is dark red.
The remarkable thing is, even
with such a simple system (three
loci with two alleles each!), we
can get a remarkably “smooth”
distribution of phenotypes!
Height – yes.
Language – no.
Neuroticism – ?
“Extraordinary obfuscation”
(SJG, The Mismeasure of Man) MCB 140, 12-8-06 48
“The tendency has always been strong to
believe that whatever received a name must
be an entity or a being, having an
independent existence of its own. And if no
real entity answering to the name could be
found, men did not for that reason suppose
that none existed, but imagined that it was
something peculiarly abstruse and
mysterious.” John Stuart Mill
s s s
2
p
2
g
2
e
Please note, though, that the equation makes a claim about
the population and NOT about the “relative contributions
of genes and environment” to the phenotype of an
individual.
s s s
2
p
2
g
2
e
2 2 2 2
sg sa sd si
MCB 140, 12-8-06 63
The useful part of genetic variance
2 2 2 2
sg sa sd si
In quantitative genetics, how extensive is the
additive genetic variance for a trait is a
measure of how much we can expect the
trait to respond to changes in genotypic
composition.
2
2 sa
h 2
sp
By the way, did anyone notice how rapidly technical it got, and away
from “This kid is real bright, just like his old man was. Must be
genetic…” ?
MCB 140, 12-8-06 65
Fact and problem
In agriculture, narrow-sense heritability is a
valuable number to know, because it
illuminates the extent to which a
quantitative trait may respond to selective
breeding. For example, is it feasible to
breed a cow that gives more milk?
How on Earth do you measure “additive
genetic variance”?
R = h2 · s
MCB 140, 12-8-06 78
A perspective on the allure of the
“dream of blue blood”
Why does it matter so much to people whether IQ
is “hereditary” or not?
E.L. Thorndike (1905): “In the actual race of life,
which is not to get ahead, but to get ahead of
somebody, the chief determining factor is
heredity” [emphasis added]
R. Lewontin (1995): “In the three-quarters of a
century that have since passed, the central effort
of human behavioral and psychological genetics
has been to put a firm foundation under
Thorndike’s claim.”