polymorphism

A common variation in the sequence of DNA among individuals. See also

Difference in DNA sequence among individuals that may underlie differences in health. Genetic variations occurring in more than 1% of a population would be considered useful polymorphisms for genetic linkage analysis. See also: mutation

(PAH-lee-MOR-fih-zum) A common variation or mutation in DNA.

1. The occurrence of allelic variation at a locus. Polymorphism in nucleotide sequences has provided powerful diagnostic tools. See: DNA diagnostics, microsatellites, restriction fragment length polymorphism. 2. The occurrence of two or more forms in a population. See: balanced polymorphism, chromosomal polymorphism.

The ability of an object reference to be used as if it referred to an object with different forms. Polymorphism in Java results from both class inheritance and interface inheritance. The apparently different forms often result from the static type of the variable in which the reference is stored. Given the following class header

 class Rectangle extends Polygon implements Comparable 

The notion that you can tell an "object" to do something generic, and the object will interpret the command in different ways depending on its type. [<Gk many shapes]