Question map
Not attempted Correct Incorrect ★ Bookmarked
Loading…
Q55 (IAS/2002) Science & Technology › Basic Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) › Genetics and evolution Answer Verified

When one gene controls two or more different characters simultaneously, the phenomenon is called

Result
Your answer: —  Â·  Correct: B
Explanation

The phenomenon in which a single gene influences two or more distinct phenotypic characters is called pleiotropy. In classic genetics, pleiotropy explains cases where mutation or variation at one locus produces multiple, apparently unrelated traits — for example, a single gene affecting seed coat color as well as flower and axil pigmentation in Mendel’s material is attributed to pleiotropy [1]. Contemporary definitions emphasize that one genetic variant can affect multiple traits via independent biological pathways or mediated effects, and pleiotropic loci are widely observed across organisms and traits in genetic studies [2]. Other options (apomixis, polyploidy, polyteny) refer to different phenomena and do not describe one gene affecting multiple characters.

Sources

  1. [1] https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/pleiotropy-one-gene-can-affect-multiple-traits-569/
  2. [2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2975297/
How others answered
Each bar shows the % of students who chose that option. Green bar = correct answer, blue outline = your choice.
Community Performance
Out of everyone who attempted this question.
63%
got it right
✓ Thank you! We'll review this.

SIMILAR QUESTIONS

NDA-I · 2021 · Q81 Relevance score: -5.51

'Beats' is a phenomenon that occurs when freencies of two harmonic waves are

CDS-I · 2021 · Q66 Relevance score: -6.85

Growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern is known as

NDA-I · 2021 · Q100 Relevance score: -7.03

When light scattered by a molecule and the freency of the scattered light is changed, this phenomenon is called

NDA-II · 2025 · Q86 Relevance score: -7.20

The Ramacharita, an example of dvyasrya-kavya, telling two stories simultaneously, was written by