Question 1
What is meant by the term heritability? Describe the components of heritability and provide a brief explanation of each. Of what interest is heritability to animal and plant breeders?Question 2
As used in twin studies in mammals, distinguish between the terms concordant and discordant.Answer 1
Heritability refers to the degree to which observed phenotypic variation for a given trait is inherited. Components include environmental variance, genetic variance, and interaction between the two. From information on heritability, breeders can determine the degree of improvement to expect from selective breeding.Answer 2
Concordant refers to a given trait expressed similarly between twins; discordant refers to a case in which one member of the twin pair expresses the trait but the other does not.