The search for new asthma phenotypes

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Abstract
A phenotype refers to a set of characteristics that can be used to classify organisms into discrete groups. The Danish botanist and geneticist, Wilhelm Johannsen coined the terms “genotype” and “phenotype” in an address to the American Society of Naturalists in 1910.1 Phenotype was interpreted to designate “a group of organisms, which in outward appearance seemed to belong to one type”.2 This was clarified in correspondence from Shull, who noted that the term phenotype referred to “the constitution or assemblage of characteristics” with respect to which a group of individual organisms is apparently homogeneous and not to the group of individuals themselves.3 Therefore, phenotype can refer to any observable characteristic of an organism, including morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, and behaviour. Each phenotypic characteristic will depend to a greater or lesser degree …