Skip to main content

Genes, Traits, and Variation

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

A trait is one observable variant of a characteristic a gene controls; a species' variation arises from allele combinations each individual inherits.

Show

Hair color is a characteristic; blonde, brown, and black are traits from different gene combinations.

Watch for

A trait like eye color reflects normal variation, not a defect — variation across a population is expected, not an exception.