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Character and Traits in Genetics

Character is the foundation of a personality of an individual and traits add up to produce a distinct identity. A trait is an unconditional constant that is inherited at the time of birth, whereas a character is a wide fundamental unit used to characterise various qualities presented by a set of organisms.

In genetics, the terms trait and character are used to describe the qualities of the organisms. In an organism, a mixture of two traits occurs, which can be hereditary or determined by external variables. The blue eye colour, for example, is a trait, but the eye colour of the organism is a character.

The main distinction between character and trait is that a trait is a condition of a character, which is a different variation of an organism’s phenotypic characteristic, whereas a character is a distinguishable feature that aids in identifying the organism.

Character and Trait in Genetics

A character is a distinguishing feature of a group of organisms. They are inherited as genes by organisms from their parents. A single gene can decide many characters, while multiple genes can ascertain a specific character. They are divided into two categories based on the number of characters used to determine a character; they are oligogenic characters and polygenic. The oligogenic character is determined by a few genes, whereas the polygenic character is determined by a large number of genes. Several fundamental characteristics are shared by all living species. Order, sensitivity to the environment, growth, reproduction, control, processing of energy, and homeostasis are some of them.

A trait is a unique variation of an organism character. As a result, it can be recognised as a character state. An organism-specific trait is inherited from its parents, and the expression of it is influenced by the surrounding environment. A trait can be measured or observable. Therefore, every trait arises in combination with another trait of the character. However, only one trait is expressed in a pair, and it is referred to as the dominant trait. Meanwhile, the recessive trait refers to the trait that is not expressed.

The distinction between Character and Trait

S. NO.	Character	Trait

1	Character is a fundamental unit used to formalise homology hypotheses in all phylogenetic studies	A trait is an attribute of an organism that is expressed via genes and/or affected by the environment. As a result, the fundamental distinction can be seen
2	A character is a distinctive quality of a particular organism	A trait is a condition of a character. Hence, a difference lies in their correspondence
3	In terms of occurrence a single character appears in a group of species	In the genome, two traits occur together
4	There is no criterion of dominant and recessive characters	In terms of trait, one of the traits in the pair is dominant and the other is recessive
5	A character is controlled by the genes that are inherited	A trait is regulated by inheritance and the environment
6	A character is crucial in the identification of a group of organisms or species	A trait is essential in the detection of specific organisms in a population
7	A character changes with time	A trait cannot change with the time
8	A character is acquired over time	A trait is not acquired over time
9	A character is mediated by the neuro-physiological factors	A trait is mediated by the allosomes.
10	A character is influenced by the external environment	Trait is influenced by an interaction of a gene with a gene
11	An illustration of character is the colour of an eye	E.g. trait is the blue eye colour

Conclusion

Both character and trait help in the identification of the organisms and the main distinction between them in genetics are due to their correspondence in the living species.

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What is the main difference between trait and character?

Answer. A trait is defined as a state of character, which is a distinctive variety of a phenotypic characteristic of...Read full

What is a trait?

Answer. A trait is a unique variation of an organism’s character. As a consequence, it can be recognised as a ...Read full

What is a character?

Answer. A character is a distinctive quality of a particular organism and is crucial in the identification of a gr...Read full