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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mr. Lobo" data-source="post: 1393973" data-attributes="member: 7694">Hey Henry,First an intro - I have a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology and specialize in bacterial genetics and pathogenesis.Many genes are also named for their function using a three letter code maybe followed by another letter or some numbers. For example the hemolysin gene of E. coli (a bacterium) is named hly followed by another letter designation such as A, B, or C. All hly genes are involved in the expression of hemolysin from the bacterium but may have different functions that are involved in the process. (Hence hlyA, hlyB,..etc. for making and secretion of the hemolysin from the bacterium). A mutation in any of these genes would result in a bacterium that has its hemolysin expression altered. As stated before many times genes are discovered by "breaking" (mutating) the organism and then trying to find out what it was you broke.Many functions in bacteria and more complex organisms are the result of multiple gene interactions. In a gaming situation this would mean that the ability for a mutant creature to be born that suddenly has a pair of wings, where its parents did not, would most likely not occur by a single gene defect. However over years of selection a mutant could be selected by the geneticist in your game as a step by step evolutionary approach. Alternatively a mutant creature and its parents could have genes present for a particular trait but the "on" (regulator gene) button is not active except for in the mutant. When the "on" gene is flipped (by mutation) a whole cascade of other genes could be turned on and the mutant trait (phenotype) expressed in the offspring.As a player trying to to determine the genetics of mutant organisms perhaps some spells could be devised to look at a creatures genome and verify that certain regions have different coding from others. Also "Genes" by Lewin or a Bio 101 textebook should have a lot of good introductory material that goes into the nomenclature and rationale for mutation and selection.Hope this helps some,Mr. Lobo</blockquote>

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