The extent, causes and implications of pleiotropy among complex traits

该项目旨在了解DNA突变如何影响许多特征或特征。许多性状之所以被称为复杂性状，是因为它们是由非常多的基因控制的，其中大多数影响很小。复杂性状包括在医学（如对心脏病的易感性）和农业（如肉的嫩度）中重要的性状。因为每个性状都有许多基因影响，大多数基因的影响很小，这使得它们很难被识别。一个突变对一个复杂性状的影响很小，对一个不那么复杂的性状的影响也很大，这一事实可能有助于我们识别这种突变，并将其用于农业或医学。

The project seeks to understand how a DNA mutation can affect many characters or traits. Many traits are called complex because they are controlled by a very large number of genes, most of which have small effects. Complex traits include traits important in medicine (such as susceptibility to heart disease) and in agriculture (such as tenderness of meat). Because there are many genes affecting each trait, most genes have small effects which makes them hard to identify. The fact that a mutation that has a small effect on a complex trait also has a larger effect on a less complex trait may help us to identify the mutation and use it in agriculture or medicine.