Genes and the environment

Extract

The ability of an individual to change the phenotype in response to changes in the environment is called phenotypic plasticity or environmental sensitivity. Plasticity has a genetic basis can be observed at the biochemical, physiological, behavioural, and other levels of the organism. Plasticity is often described by reaction norms, which describe the phenotypic expression of a genotype as a function of the environment Differences in plasticity between individuals (genotypes) will result in genotype by environment interaction (GxE), i.e. the difference between the expected phenotypic values of two genotypes is not the same in two environments. If the difference changes sign, we have reranking of genotypes.