pleiotropy Genetics.
(plaɪˈɒtrəpɪ)
[ad. G. pleiotrop (L. Plate 1910, in Festschr. für R. Hertwig II. 597), f. Gr. πλείων (see pleio-) + τροπή turn, turning: see -y3.]
The production by a single gene of two or more apparently unrelated phenotypic effects; an instance of this.
| 1939 C. H. Waddington Introd. Mod. Genetics vii. 162 (heading) Multiple effects of a factor or pleiotropy. 1957 ― Strategy of Genes 208 The more detailed the analysis, the more pleiotropy will be uncovered. 1973 Nature 21/28 Dec. 499/2 True pleiotropies of blood group genes are impossible to identify with the relatively crude characterisation of blood group specificities presently available. 1974 Ibid. 7 June 528/2 The suppression and temperature sensitivity characteristics were not separable, thus confirming that in each strain a single mutation was responsible for the pleiotropy. 1977 Lancet 9 Apr. 786/1 Genes always have more than one effect—a property known as pleiotropy. |