Phene
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the chemical compound, see benzene.
A Phene is an individual characteristic or trait which can be possessed by an organism, such as eye colour, height, behavior, tooth shape or any other observable characteristic.
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[edit] Phene - Phenotype - Phenome Distincition
Phene is to Phenotype as Gene is to Genotype, and Similarly Phene is to Phenome as Gene is to Genome
More specifically, a Phene is an abstract concept describing a particular characteristic which can be possessed by an organism. Whereas Phenotype refers to a collection of Phenes possessed by a particular organism, and Phenome refers to the entire set of Phenes that exist within an organism or species.
It is important to note that the word phenotype was originally used to refer to both the trait/character itself (e.g. the blue eyes phenotype) and the set of traits/characteristics possessed by the organism (clair's eye-colour phenotype is blue). Whilst this definition is still used in many places, the lack of distinction can make indepth explanations confusing and thus use of the term Phene becomes necessary.
[edit] Phene - Gene Distinction
Genes give rise to Phenes. Genes are the cellular instructions dictating what an organism can be, whilst Phenes are what the organism is. In general it takes a combination of particular genes, environmental influences and random variation to give rise to any one phene in an organism.
[edit] Origins
The term is sometimes thought to be recently (past decade or so) derrived from the term phenotype, and there is some consternation amongst Australian researchers as to who first coined the term.
According to Anatoly Ruvinsky,The University of New Engaland,Australia, the term has been introduced by the influencial Russian geneticist Alexander Serebrovsky in the 1920s. This assertion would seem to be supported by this article. Whilst it is possible that the term has been coined independently several times, the basic definition of "phene is to phenotype as gene is to genotype" appears ubiquitous, though there is some disagreement over precisely what this phrase means.
