Home Biology Principles of Inheritance and Variation NCERT Examplar Occasionally, a single gene may express more…
Biology Principles of Inheritance and Variation NCERT Examplar Single Correct MCQ
Published on: August 21, 2026

Occasionally, a single gene may express more than one effect. The phenomenon is called:

A
Multiple allelism
B
Mosaicism
C
Pleiotropy
D
Polygeny

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Occasionally, a single gene may express more than one trait. This phenomenon is called pleiotropy. Sometimes, one trait will be very evident and others will be less evident, e.g., a gene for white eye in Drosophila also affect the shape of organs in male responsible for sperm storage as well as other structures. Similarly, sickle-cell anaemic individuals suffer from a number of problems, all of which are pleiotropic effects of the sickle-cell alleles. Multiple allelism is a series of three or more alternative or allelic forms of a gene, only two of which can exist in any normal diploid individual, e.g., genes of blood groups in human. Mosaicism describes the occurrence of cells that differ in their genetic component from other cells of the body. Polygeny refers to a single characteristic that is controlled by more than two genes (it is also known as multifactorial inheritance).

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