polygenic inheritance
What polygenic inheritance means in Biology GCSE, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of polygenic inheritance
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Reference: OCR
Involves multiple distinct genes situated across different chromosomes exerting cumulative, additive effects on a single physical characteristic.
Most phenotype features are the result of multiple genes rather than single gene inheritance, so simple single-gene ratios do not predict them.
Topics that use polygenic inheritance
- Genetic inheritance (AQA GCSE)
- Inheritance (OCR GCSE)
Related terms
- direct proportion
- Gene
- Phenotype
- Allele notation
- Alleles
- Asexual reproduction
- carrier identification
- Chromosome
Using polygenic inheritance in the exam
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