Highlights lecture 2.3

Question 1

Explain why disease tends to run in families

Answer 1

Bc families tend to share:
1) Gene to gene interactions
2) Gene to environment interactions

Question 2

Familial aggregation in qualitative traits:
Math would dictate that if an allele increases the chance of developing a disease, we would expect what about families?

Answer 2

An affected individual would have a greater number of affected relatives than the general population

Question 3

1) Define genetic variance
2) Define environmental variance

Answer 3

1) The phenotypic variance of a trait in a population that is attributed to genotypic differences
2) The phenotypic variance of a trait in a population that is attributed to differences in the environment

Question 4

1) Define heritability of quantitative traits
2) How is it measured?

Answer 4

1) The fraction of the total phenotypic variance of a quantitative trait that is due to allelic variation in the broadest sense
2) Measured from 0 to 1: The higher it is, the more that genetic inheritance contributes to disease
1 = totally genetic
0 = not genetic at all

Question 5

_______________ among twins is a powerful tool for studying genetic influence

Answer 5

Concordance

Question 6

What are twin studies?

Answer 6

Study of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins.