Sign In. Advanced Search. Search Menu. Article Navigation. Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation. Volume Interpreting measurements of heritability: a comment on Croston et al. Smulders Tom V. Oxford Academic. Editor-in-Chief: Leigh Simmons. Cite Cite Tom V. Select Format Select format.
Permissions Icon Permissions. Google Scholar PubMed. Google Scholar Crossref. Search ADS. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals. Issue Section:. Download all slides. View Metrics. Email alerts Article activity alert. Advance article alerts. New issue alert. Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic. A heritability close to zero indicates that almost all of the variability in a trait among people is due to environmental factors, with very little influence from genetic differences.
Characteristics such as religion, language spoken, and political preference have a heritability of zero because they are not under genetic control. A heritability close to one indicates that almost all of the variability in a trait comes from genetic differences, with very little contribution from environmental factors. Many disorders that are caused by variants also known as mutations in single genes, such as phenylketonuria PKU , have high heritability.
Most complex traits in people, such as intelligence and multifactorial diseases , have a heritability somewhere in the middle, suggesting that their variability is due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Heritability has historically been estimated from studies of twins. Identical twins have almost no differences in their DNA, while fraternal twins share, on average, 50 percent of their DNA. If a trait appears to be more similar in identical twins than in fraternal twins when they were raised together in the same environment , genetic factors likely play an important role in determining that trait.
By comparing a trait in identical twins versus fraternal twins, researchers can calculate an estimate of its heritability. Heritability can be difficult to understand, so there are many misconceptions about what it can and cannot tell us about a given trait:.
Heritability does not indicate what proportion of a trait is determined by genes and what proportion is determined by environment. So, a heritability of 0. Knowing the heritability of a trait does not provide information about which genes or environmental influences are involved, or how important they are in determining the trait.
Heritable is not the same as familial. A trait is described as familial if it is shared by members of a family. Traits can appear in families for many reasons in addition to genetics, such as similarities in lifestyle and environment.
Genetic Drift and Effective Population Size. Wray, Ph. Citation: Wray, N. Nature Education 1 1 Genetic variation in a population can result from a variety of things. What are the ways we can estimate trait heritability? Aa Aa Aa. Quantifying Heritability. Heritability Estimation. Figure 1: Heritability estimation. Low panel a and high panel b heritability can be estimated from the regression h2 of offspring phenotypic values vs. Figure Detail. Estimating Heritability: Caveats. Heritability Is Not Necessarily Constant.
Misconceptions of the Heritability Concept. References and Recommended Reading Charmantier, A. Human Genetics , — Visscher, P. Public Library of Science Genetics 2 , e41 ———. Article History Close. Share Cancel. Revoke Cancel. Keywords Keywords for this Article. Save Cancel. Flag Inappropriate The Content is: Objectionable. Flag Content Cancel. Email your Friend. Submit Cancel. This content is currently under construction.
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