Question

What is an epistatic trait?

Answer 1

Epistatic trait:

1. The phenomenon of masking or inhibiting the expression of a particular gene by another gene, to allow the expression of another trait is called epistasis.
2. The trait that masks or inhibits the expression of another trait is called an epistatic trait.
3. The trait that is inhibited by the epistatic trait is called a hypostatic trait.

Example :

1. Malvidin is a pigment found in the Primula plant that creates blue-colored flowers.
2. The synthesis of malvidin pigment is controlled by gene K, and its production can be suppressed by gene D, which is found at the different locus of chromosomes.
3. So, gene K is a hypostatic gene and gene D is epistatic.
4. In this case of dominant epistasis if the D allele is dominant to the K allele, thus the plants with genotype KkDd will not produce malvidin because of the presence of the D allele, as it suppresses the expression of the K gene.