Title: The difference between genetic and hereditary | Evolutionary Biology
Headings: The difference between genetic and hereditary
The difference between genetic and hereditary
Content: When we examine a trait strongly linked to a family, statistically related to a lineage of several generations, we tend to define the trait as hereditary or genetic, using either term, treating them as perfectly interchangeable synonyms. Because the feature in question is transmitted along that lineage, we deduce that the feature is related to the genetic makeup of those organisms, being directly dependent on a gene or on group of genes. And I believe that, doing this, we make a mistake. Genetic and hereditary are not synonymous. What is the difference? The adjective genetic refers to a trait or a feature determined, directly or indirectly, by the organism’s genes, and phenotypically perceptible because of the occurrence of those gene’s protein products or the activity of these protein products in a given environment. Once the genes come (usually, but not always…) from parents, saying that the number of fingers is a genetic trait (determined by genes) means that such a trait is passed from parents to progeny, since children’s genes come from their parents. But this doesn’t allow us to conclude that everything that is transmitted from parents to offspring is genetic. In my opinion, the adjective hereditary will fulfil this role. Hereditary is what is passed from one generation to another.