- #1
Pythagorean
Gold Member
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I'm not sure how far the word phenotype extends into particular traits of species (for instance, is a genetic tendency towards a particular disease a phenotypic trait?), so please let me know if I violate the definition.
I'm curious if there's a known structure-function relationship between genes (and or the transcribing proteins) and the temporal stability of traits.
For instance, skin color would have a long temporal scale. If people get separated geographically, they develop different skin colors (by and large) just as animals develop different patterns.
Eye color, on the other hand (a medium temporal scale) is much more diverse even across different human races. So is genetic disease. So the temporal scale is on the order of human lifetimes (i.e. a new eye color can come with each birth)
What about changes in genetic expression within a lifetime due to environmental effects? For instance, if I expose myself to the cold and suppress my appetite, I'll upregulate mitochondrial sirt3 expression, which is associated with longevity (so, a short temporal scale, within the lifetime of the organism).
What is it that makes some traits much more stable than others? And how is this stability coded temporally?
I'm curious if there's a known structure-function relationship between genes (and or the transcribing proteins) and the temporal stability of traits.
For instance, skin color would have a long temporal scale. If people get separated geographically, they develop different skin colors (by and large) just as animals develop different patterns.
Eye color, on the other hand (a medium temporal scale) is much more diverse even across different human races. So is genetic disease. So the temporal scale is on the order of human lifetimes (i.e. a new eye color can come with each birth)
What about changes in genetic expression within a lifetime due to environmental effects? For instance, if I expose myself to the cold and suppress my appetite, I'll upregulate mitochondrial sirt3 expression, which is associated with longevity (so, a short temporal scale, within the lifetime of the organism).
What is it that makes some traits much more stable than others? And how is this stability coded temporally?