What is defined as the physical appearance resulting from alleles?

The term that describes the physical appearance of an organism as a result of its alleles is phenotype. The phenotype encompasses all observable characteristics, which include traits such as size, shape, color, and behavior, stemming from the interactions between an organism's genotype (the genetic makeup) and its environment.

This means that the phenotype not only reflects the genetic information inherited from the parents through alleles, but it is also influenced by environmental factors, potentially altering how genetic traits are expressed. For instance, two plants with the same genotype for height may exhibit different heights based on the amount of sunlight they receive.

In contrast, genotype specifically refers to the underlying genetic constitution of an individual, representing the actual alleles present, while the term allele refers to the different forms or variants of a gene that may exist at a specific locus. Dominance involves the relationship between alleles, particularly how one allele may mask the expression of another, but it does not itself define the physical appearance.

Thus, phenotype is the appropriate term to denote the physical manifestation of genetic information in an organism.