penetrance

noun

pen·​e·​trance ˈpe-nə-trən(t)s How to pronounce penetrance (audio)
: the proportion of individuals of a particular genotype that express its phenotypic effect in a given environment

Examples of penetrance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The penetrance of ovarian cancer is lower, in the neighborhood of 40 percent. Jeff Wheelwright, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2012 When Jewish women enrolled in research to test the gene’s penetrance, the results were applied to all other ethnicities, where mutations were not as common. Jeff Wheelwright, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2012 GenePeeks and its competitors are going to focus on large effect high penetrance variants which are causal in Mendelian diseases because that's doable, and also not as ethically controversial. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 9 Oct. 2013 Sema4 only reports results for diseases that have a greater than 80 percent penetrance—the proportion of people with a genetic variant who end up developing the disease. Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 24 Dec. 2019 Research suggests that random fluctuations in gene activity could explain some instances of the phenomenon, known as partial penetrance, which likely plays a role in some human diseases. Quanta Magazine, 22 May 2014

Word History

Etymology

International Scientific Vocabulary, from Latin penetrare

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of penetrance was in 1934

Dictionary Entries Near penetrance

Cite this Entry

“Penetrance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penetrance. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

penetrance

noun
pen·​e·​trance ˈpen-ə-trən(t)s How to pronounce penetrance (audio)
: the proportion of individuals of a particular genotype that express its phenotypic effect in a given environment compare expressivity
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