During a visit, your grandparents comment on how tall you are com...

Question

During a visit, your grandparents comment on how tall you are compared with them. You tell them that in your genetics class, you learned that height in humans has high heritability, although environmental factors also influence adult height. You correctly explain the meaning of heritability, and your grandfather asks, 'How can height be highly heritable and still be influenced by the environment?' What explanation do you give your grandfather?

Accepted Answer

Hi, everyone. Let's take a look at this practice problem together which of the following statements is true regarding the heritability of human height, given that the genetic variance accounts for a substantial proportion of the phenotypic variation observed in height. And that the degree of genetic influence on height can vary across different populations and environments. So in summary, the question is saying that human height heritability or the height variation is accounted for by a substantial proportion due to genetic variances. But the degree of the genetic influence on height can vary across different populations and environments. So let's go ahead and go through the options and identify the true statement. Option. A, the heritability of human height is solely determined by environmental factors. Well, this statement is false. We know that according to the information in the question, the heritability of human height is not solely determined by environmental factors. So we can eliminate option A option B, the degree of heritability of human height is fixed and cannot be influenced by environmental or genetic factors. Now, the question states remember that the degree of genetic influence can vary across different populations and environments. So option B that statement is false as well. So we'll go ahead and eliminate option B as well. Option D states, the degree of heritability of human height is entirely determined by the individual's genetic makeup and environmental factors play no role. Again, we are told in the question that the degree of genetic influence varies across populations and environments, which means that environmental factors do play a role so we can go ahead and eliminate option D as well. That means that the true statement and the correct answer is option C environmental factors can influence the expression of height related genes, thereby altering the degree of heritability of human height. All right, everyone. I hope you found this helpful and I'll see you soon for the next practice problem.

Key Concepts

Heritability

Environmental Influence

Gene-Environment Interaction

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