Pleiotropy

//plaɪˈɒtɹəpi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The influence of a single gene on multiple phenotypic traits; pleiotropism. countable, uncountable

    "This experimental design is analogous to the experiment that we performed to test whether antagonistic pleiotropy operates as a genetic mechanism in the evolution of late-life mortality rate plateaus."

  2. 2
    The existence of drug effects (especially beneficial effects) other than the one for which the drug was designed. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"This experimental design is analogous to the experiment that we performed to test whether antagonistic pleiotropy operates as a genetic mechanism in the evolution of late-life mortality rate plateaus."

Etymology

Coined by German zoologist Ludwig Plate in 1910, from Ancient Greek πλείων (pleíōn) + -tropy; by surface analysis, pleio- + -tropy.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.