Phenotype

This is the totality of an organism’s characteristics, traits, structure, and functions that form during certain stages of its individual development. It depends not only on the genotype but also on environmental conditions. Therefore, even people of the same type look different. Geneticists describe an organism with two terms: genotype and phenotype. Genotype is the sum of an organism’s genetic information, which is entirely hereditary. Phenotype is acquired, it depends on environmental conditions, and this is the essential difference between genotype and phenotype.

Source | Glossary of Most Commonly Used Biomedical Terms and Concepts | Lithuanian University of Health Sciences | Academician Professor Antanas Praškevičius, Professor Laima Ivanovienė