Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
para este carácter
English translation:
heterozygous for this character
Added to glossary by
Paul Brown
May 2, 2014 13:22
10 yrs ago
Spanish term
United Kingdom
ES/PT > Native English Translations
Native in: English 
Works in: Portuguese to English, Spanish to English
para este carácter
Spanish to English
Science
Biology (-tech,-chem,micro-)
El color de pelo negro del conejillo de Indias viene determinado por la presencia de un alelo dominante “N”. Cruzamos un conejillo de Indias de pelo negro heterocigótico para este carácter con un conejillo de Indias de pelo blanco. Responde a las siguientes preguntas:
This is for a biology text book. I'm not sure how this term fits into this sentence....
Many thanks!
This is for a biology text book. I'm not sure how this term fits into this sentence....
Many thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +2 | heterozygous for this character |
DLyons
|
Proposed translations
+2
7 mins
Spanish term (edited):
heterocigótico para este carácter
Selected
heterozygous for this character
*
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Note added at 46 mins (2014-05-02 14:08:42 GMT)
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Hi Paul - see definition in my reply to Phil. Sounds like an interesting project.
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Note added at 50 mins (2014-05-02 14:12:29 GMT)
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Here the character is "having black hair" as Phil says. Easily observable and genetically determined.
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Note added at 57 mins (2014-05-02 14:19:48 GMT)
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I have no idea of current relative usage of character vs characteristic. Many years ago, I had Geneticist friends and probably just absorbed that version of the word. That's what the black box in my brain pops out and it mistrusts (probably quite wrongly) "characteristic" as a synonym.
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Note added at 46 mins (2014-05-02 14:08:42 GMT)
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Hi Paul - see definition in my reply to Phil. Sounds like an interesting project.
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Note added at 50 mins (2014-05-02 14:12:29 GMT)
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Here the character is "having black hair" as Phil says. Easily observable and genetically determined.
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Note added at 57 mins (2014-05-02 14:19:48 GMT)
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I have no idea of current relative usage of character vs characteristic. Many years ago, I had Geneticist friends and probably just absorbed that version of the word. That's what the black box in my brain pops out and it mistrusts (probably quite wrongly) "characteristic" as a synonym.
Note from asker:
| Thanks Donal. I didn't think it was that easy. What does character refer to though? What is the character? |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
philgoddard
: "Characteristic" gets far more Google hits, but this is fine too. The character(istic) is black hair. // And I agree with Charles - I don't usually vote for answers that give no references or explanation, unless the question is very easy.
26 mins
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Thanks Phil. Both are used "A character or characteristic is a distinctive structural or functional feature determined by a gene or group of genes."//And that's fine too. I'm not trying to amass points, just to point people in likely directions.
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: I know a little, enough to know this is correct, but (as I've said before) I do think a minimum of explanation is in order.
29 mins
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Thanks Charles. We have a different philosophy on this - I see it as being for the asker to do their own due diligence. And preferably to have a basic understanding of the subject area (I'm not suggesting that Paul doesn't).
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks a lot Donal! I took on this job because it was a school textbook and not an advanced publication or something of the kind.
I have found the material very accessible and the question I put forth above was probably the biggest doubt I had.
I certainly don't specialise in Scientific material but I always remain open to work in other fields that doesn't contain advanced content."
Discussion
On Phil's exchange with Donal: in all the stuff I've read about genetics (a subject I'm very interested in) I've found that biologists nearly always seem to refer to "characters" rather than "characteristics" in this specific context, though we non-biologists would naturally call them characteristics and would probably find this use of "character" odd at first.
"character: 3. Genetics A structure, function, or attribute determined by a gene or a group of genes."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/character