Genetic Concepts Review and Application

This page reinforces key genetic concepts through targeted questions and answers, helping students solidify their understanding of alleles and inheritance patterns.

Definition: A dominant allele is characterized as the stronger gene variant that will always be expressed in the organism's phenotype.

Highlight: Recessive alleles only manifest in the organism's appearance when present in two copies (homozygous recessive).

Example: In eye color inheritance:

• Brown eyes (B) are dominant over blue eyes (b)
• A person needs two copies of the recessive allele (bb) to have blue eyes
• One copy of the dominant allele (B) is sufficient for brown eyes

Understanding Genetic Inheritance and Alleles

This page introduces fundamental concepts in genetics, focusing on alleles and their role in inheritance. The content explains how genes are passed from parents to offspring and how different combinations affect physical characteristics.

Definition: An allele represents different forms of the same gene, determining how traits are expressed in organisms.

Vocabulary:

• Homozygous: Having two identical alleles for a particular gene (e.g., EE)
• Heterozygous: Having two different alleles for a particular gene (e.g., Ee)

Highlight: The dominant allele will always be expressed in the phenotype, while recessive alleles only show when two copies are present.

Example: Using a Punnett square to predict eye color inheritance:

• Mother (Bb) and Father (bb)
• Possible outcomes: 50% brown eyes (Bb) and 50% blue eyes (bb)
• B represents brown eyes (dominant)
• b represents blue eyes (recessive)