BIOLOGY Volume 3 - A Guide to General Biology - 2004

24. VARIATION AND GENETICS

24.7. Gene Interaction

24.7.6. Polygenic Inheritance

Many of the most prominent traits result from the combined action of multiple genes. These genes form a specific Gene complex known as a polygenic system. THE CONTRIBUTION OF any single gene in such a system is too small to have a significant impact on the phenotype, yet their cumulative effect forms the GENETIC BASIS OF continuous variation (Section 24.8.2).

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