Question

The Lifeline Cohort Study examines the effects of genetic factors and environmental conditions on a wide variety of human health biomarkers in nearly 170,000 Scandinavians. Measures include body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, fasting glucose, and approximately 30 other traits. Suppose researchers calculated each of the components of phenotypic variation for BMI. They found that the genetic component of variation equals 2.46, the environmental component of variation equals 5.44, and the variation associated with interaction of genetic and environmental factors to be 1.21. Calculate the broad-sense heritability, H, for BMI.

Answer 1

The ratio of genetic variation (Vg) to phenotypic variance (Vp) is a broad definition of heredity.

Step-by-step explanation:

As indicated in the question:-

Vg is a variation attributed to genetic factors and is often inherited. Nevertheless, Vp is not necessarily inherited and is affected by both genes and environmental influences, i.e. Vp = Vg + Ve(Environmental Variation)

So H2 = Vg/Vp

Vp = Vg + Ve = 2.46+ 5.44 = 7.90

So H​​​​​​2 = 2.46. ÷ 7.90 = 0.31