Thursday, August 11, 2011

The links between genotype and phenotpye are?

The links are RNA molecules and proteins. To make it simple, in each cell the DNA (which carries the information of the genotype) is found in the nucleus. The cell has numerous structures andm molecules which first translate the DNA of a gene to be expressed into RNA (this is called transcription), and then in specialized parts of the cell, the RNA is used to built proteins composed of amino acids exactly in the sequence written in the DNA and RNA (this is called translation). Most of these proteins are enzyms with catalyse specific biochemical reactions. The growth of an organism is based on biochemical reactions (which include cell divisions) and their pattern is fixed by the DNA, so ultimately this is how the DNA, or the genotype, is linked to the phenotype, the appearance of an organism.

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