What is epistasis?
Q: What is epistasis?
A: Epistasis is the interaction between genes at different loci.
Q: Who invented the term 'epistasis'?
A: William Bateson invented the term 'epistasis' in 1909.
Q: What did Gregor Mendel's experiments on sweet pea involve?
A: Gregor Mendel's experiments on sweet pea involved choosing seven traits, such as round vs wrinkled peas, and tall vs short plants, and finding pairs of 'factors' (genes) which controlled their appearance (phenotype).
Q: Did the pairs of factors in Gregor Mendel's experiments affect each other?
A: No, one pair of factors never affected the other pairs in Gregor Mendel's experiments.
Q: Does the action of one gene affect another gene in epistasis?
A: Yes, the action of one gene does affect another gene, even one on a different chromosome in epistasis.
Q: What does the term 'epistasis' denote?
A: In general, the term 'epistasis' denotes any departure from independence of the effects of different genetic loci.
Q: What was the original meaning of epistasis?
A: The original meaning of epistasis was quite narrow. For instance, a gene for no wings in Drosophila will obviously mask genes for any other aspect of the wings.
