Nafisa S. answered • 09/09/21
Master's in Writing and MIT grad for bio, psych, and writing tutoring
A trait is a characteristic that is observed in an organism. For example, a person's hair color, a plant's flower color, or an animal's size can all be traits. In general, traits can be affected by a host of factors, including individual genes, interactions between genes, and the environment's impact on how various genes are expressed.
Genotype refers specifically to the genes that affect any given trait. Every organism has variants of certain genes, called alleles. These allelles can exist in different combinations, and the phenotype is the expression of an organism's genotype. Phenotype can refer to several traits that are seen together -- like a plant with short stems and pink flowers. A phenotype could also refer to a single trait, like green eyes. An organism's genotype gives rise to a phenotype, which can consist of one or more traits.
