Question

How do polygenic traits affect selective breeding

Answer 1

It could give the offspring a trait that the scientist breeding them doesn't want it to have.

Answer 2

Answer:

Polygenic characteristics will make it difficult to combine desirable genes for selective breeding.

Explanation:

Artificial selection consists of selective breeding performed by humans in order to select desirable phenotypic characteristics. This process is also a way of testing evolution experimentally. For this kind of selection to happen, scientists need to identify and match the genes responsible for the trait they want. When this trait is polygenic, identifying and combining the genes responsible for it will be difficult and it will take years for scientists to come up with the perfect match.

Polygenic inheritance is a particular case of gene interaction. In this case, where the phenotypic differences of a given trait show no significant variations, the variations are slow and continuous and gradually change from a “minimum” phenotype to a “maximum” phenotype.