Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Q&A: Epistasis. | Journal of Biology BloMed Central Question Answer Q A Epistasis Frederick P Roth Howard D Lipshitz1 and Brenda J Andrews1 What is epistasis Hmmm. Are you a classical geneticist a population geneticist or a medical doctor OK what does a classical geneticist mean by epistasis William Bateson coined this term about 100 years ago for a genetic interaction in which one mutation masks or suppresses the effects of another allele at another locus 1 . What do you mean exactly by a genetic interaction Two mutations have a genetic interaction when their combination yields a surprising phenotype that cannot be explained simply by the independent effects observed for each mutation alone. Fine so what does a population geneticist mean by epistasis RA Fisher used epistacy and later epistasis to describe genetic interactions more generally 2 . We think that population geneticists hijacked this term over a decade after its coinage just to confuse the classical geneticists. Address Harvard Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology 250 Longwood Avenue Boston MA 02115 USA. Department of Molecular Genetics and Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research the University of Toronto Toronto ON Canada M5S 3E1. OK what does a medical doctor mean by epistasis A thin film on the surface of a urine specimen. Enough said on that topic. I m confused. Epistasis seems to mean genetic interaction under both classical and population genetics definitions. What s the difference Epistasis under the classical definition describes only interactions in which one mutant phenotype is masked or suppressed in the presence of the other mutation. The population geneticist s definition includes classical epistasis but also encompasses aggravating or synthetic interactions - where two mutations together yield a surprisingly deleterious phenotype 3 . OK you ve defined epistasis. But why should I care about it Epistasis in the classical sense provides a logical framework
