Inheritable trait

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) A linear polymer, made up of deoxyribo-nueleotide units, that is the earrier of genetie information, present in ehromosomes and ehromosomal material of eell orgenelles sueh as mitroehondria and ehloroplasts, and also in some viruses. Every eharaeteristie inherited trait has its origin in the eode of eaeh individual s DNA. 

An important aspect of the histone code theory is that some modifications can be passed on during cell division. As a result histone modification patterns including histone acetylation serve as a means to store inheritable traits of an organism which are not DNA encoded. This kind of information is generally termed epigenetic information. 

In some individuals an isoenzyme may be absent. This is an inherited trait which can vary in incidence according to racial background. 

To figure out how genes work and how they direct the production of specific proteins that allow organisms to inherit traits, scientists started with the fact that chromosomes were known to be made up of protein and DNA. A series of experiments using bacteria and viruses that infect bacteria established that DNA, not protein, was the basic genetic material. Scientists figured out how DNA worked as the genetic material, how it was copied when a cell divided into two identical cells, and how DNA determined traits—that is, determined the sequence of amino acids in each protein that allow different traits to be expressed. 

Evolutionary algorithms are frequently used to find optimal solutions in many different problem areas. They are based on Darwin s principle of survival of the fittest (Darwin 1996 Maynard Smith 1993). A population of individuals has to compete with other individuals for access to food and mates. Only the successful ones are allowed to reproduce. This leads to the reproduction of certain inheritable traits into the next generation. 

Mutagenesis is the phenomenon in which inheritable traits result from alterations of DNA. Although mutation is a normally occurring process that gives rise to diversity in species, most mutations are harmful. The toxicants that cause mutations are known as mutagens. These toxicants, often the same as those that cause cancer or birth defects, are a major toxicological concern. 

Osteomalacia and rickets may also occur because of phosphate depletion. The most common cause of rickets in the United States is hypophosphatemic osteomalacia (also known as hypophosphatemic vitamin D-resistant rickets and vitamin D-resistant rickets).This disorder is an X-linked dominant inherited trait characterized by renal phosphate wasting. Tubular phosphate wasting can also occur sporadically in adults and as part of Fanconi syndrome. Certain rare mesenchymal tumors may also produce a phosphaturic factor (phosphatonin or FGF-23), resultmg in renal phosphate wasting and osteomalacia. 

Natural selection for a particular trait incurs an initial cost to the organism in terms of fitness, or its ability to survive and reproduce. In weeds selected for herbicide resistance, this generalization holds true for biotypes possessing the maternally inherited trait of triazine resistance. This mutation has a detrimental effect on photosynthesis that results in decreased biomass production and reproductive output. However, compensatory interactions of the chloroplast and nuclear genomes may partially overcome reduced productivity. Expression of reduced productivity also appears to be regulated by environmental conditions. Whether similar trends in relative fitness will be found in weeds resistant to other herbicides remains to be examined. 

THROMBATE III (Bayer) is a plasma-derived product that is used to treat AT-III deficiency, the first inherited trait discovered which was identified in 1965. The condition is associated with thrombophilia caused by low levels of AT-III or the presence of altered AT-III activity. Both conditions can result in excessive blood clotting. Acquired AT-III deficiency is another condition that occurs in situations with high risk of thrombosis such as trauma, burns, and sepsis. GTG Biotherapeutics conducted chnical trials with ATryn in high-risk situations such as surgery or child de-Hvery to prevent deep-vein thrombosis in hereditary AT-III-deficient patients and heparin-resistant patients with acquired AT-III deficiency undergoing coronary bypass. A pharmacokinetic study in patients with hereditary AT-III deficiency indicated that the administration of the recombinant product resulted in an increase in blood... 

A continuous unplanned genetic screen has been performed on human populations for millennia. Thousands of inherited traits have been identified and, more recently, mapped to locations on the chromosomes. Some of these traits are inherited propensities to get a disease others are eye color or other minor characteristics. Genetic variations in virtually every aspect of cell biology can be found in human populations, allowing studies of normal and disease states and of variant cells in culture. 

Several genetic concepts are important for understanding biochemistry and molecular biology. The inherited traits of an individual are due to the genes carried in the cells of that individual. Different versions, alleles, of a gene give rise to different traits. 

Genes A gene determines an inherited trait. Genes are encoded in the sequence of the cellular DNA. 

Meanwhile, the current pervasive myth about IQ is that it s an innate and inherited trait, determined by genes and with no or only minor influences by the individual s environment. The myth is substantially based on a set of mistaken ideas,1 one of which imagines that babies pop out as immaculate gestations and that individual IQ is unaffected by the prenatal environment. 

In 1877, the American criminologist Richard L. Dugdale published an exhaustive lineage trace, in which he claimed that a descendant of early Dutch setders bom about 1730 had been the ancestor of a family of criminals he called the Jukes (a pseudonym).87 Family members included more than 76 convicted criminals, 18 brothel keepers, 120 prostitutes, over 200 relief recipients, and 2 cases of feeble-mindedness. Dugdale believed that criminal behavior derived from both environment and heredity, but his monograph became famous as evidence for criminality as an inherited trait. 

Underlying the myth of innate criminality is another myth about the innateness of social feelings and the moral sense. For example, in Charles Darwin s The Descent of Man (1879), his account of human evolution and the evolution of human behavior,103 he postulated human morality as an evolved (and therefore inherited) trait. As evidence he presented rhetoric rather than science—and page after page of silly anthropomorphism It is certain that associated animals have a feeling of love for each other, which is not felt by non-social adult animals. 104 For humans... 

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