Cechy poligeniczne

When multiple genes collaborate to influence a phenotype, the result is a polygenic, or many gene, trait.

One such characteristic is human height, which is believed to be influenced by hundreds of loci. Although each gene generally has a minimal role in determining tallness, their effects add up to establish how large an individual will be at adulthood.

Partly due to the sheer number of genes involved, human height varies considerably. For instance, the minimum of height of adult females in a population might be approximately five feet, while the maximum is about six. However, women of all sizes in between exist.

Graphing such height distribution reveals a bell shaped curve. Only a few women approach the minimum or maximum and the majority are near the average, five and a half feet all.

So, sometimes a single phenotype like height, resulting from several genetic factors, can be quantified and graphed. Importantly, this applies to many other polygenic characteristics like weight, blood pressure, and even the number of ridges in fingerprints.