Study Of Phenocopy
The strength of environmental changes is sufficient to modify the effects of many genes. In some instances, specific environmental changes may modify the development of an organism so that its phenotype stimulates the effects of particular gene, although this effect is not inherited. Such individuals are known as phenocopies. By subjecting normal Drosophila eggs, larvae, and pupae to various stress conditions like temperature shock, we obtain a phenotype effect similar to that of a mutant gene. The abnormal effects incurred through these agents are almost identical to specific gene mutations, although they are not inherited. Such individuals are known as phenocopies. The phenocopy partly imitates the mutant gene. An experiment on this problem was supported by Sang and McDonald (1954), and it allows the exposure of 2 different stocks of Drosophila flies to the phenocopy treatment. One is homozygous for wild type and the other is heterozygous for wild type and the mutant recessive gene....