What makes a trait recessive or dominant?

Dominant refers to the relationship between two versions of a gene. Individuals receive two versions of each gene, known as alleles, from each parent. If the alleles of a gene are different, one allele will be expressed; it is the dominant gene. The effect of the other allele, called recessive, is masked.

How do you determine if a gene is dominant or recessive?

The way people write out dominant and recessive traits is the dominant one gets a capital letter and the recessive one a lower case letter. So for eye color, brown is B and blue is b. As I said above, people have two versions of each gene so you can be BB, Bb, or bb–BB and Bb have brown eyes, bb, blue eyes.

What does it mean when a trait is dominant?

Dominant: A genetic trait is considered dominant if it is expressed in a person who has only one copy of that gene. (In genetic terms, a dominant trait is one that is phenotypically expressed in heterozygotes).

Which trait is recessive?

Refers to a trait that is expressed only when genotype is homozygous; a trait that tends to be masked by other inherited traits, yet persists in a population among heterozygous genotypes.

What is an example of a recessive trait?

Examples of Recessive Traits For example, having a straight hairline is recessive, while having a widow’s peak (a V-shaped hairline near the forehead) is dominant. Cleft chin, dimples, and freckles are similar examples; individuals with recessive alleles for a cleft chin, dimples, or freckles do not have these traits.

What does it mean if a trait is recessive?

Can a recessive trait become dominant?

Many recessive traits could become dominant with the right DNA tweak. This kind of dominant gene version is called a dominant negative.

What is a recessive trait?

A recessive trait is the phenotype that is seen only when a homozygous recessive genotype for the trait of interest is present. This means that an individual must have two recessive alleles for the gene that determines this trait of interest.

What does recessive mean in genetics?

Recessive refers to a type of allele which will not be manifested in an individual unless both of the individual’s copies of that gene have that particular genotype.

What is the meaning of dominant and recessive?

The terms dominant and recessive describe the inheritance patterns of certain traits. That is, they describe how likely it is for a certain phenotype to pass from parent offspring. Sexually reproducing species, including people and other animals, have two copies of each gene.

What does it mean for a trait to be dominant?

A dominant trait is a genetic trait which will manifest when only one copy of the gene is present, overriding another inherited gene coding for a different version of the trait. By contrast, a recessive trait will only appear if an organism inherits a copy of the gene from both parents.

What are some examples of recessive traits?

Organisms must contain two recessive genes before the recessive trait is seen in the individual. Examples of recessive traits include blue eyes, straight hair, attached earlobes, albinism, baldness and congenital deafness.Organisms carry several forms, or alleles, of genes.

What are some examples of dominant traits?

dominant trait. an inherited characteristic that is determined by a dominant allele. Polydactyly is an example of a dominant trait; individuals with either one or two copies of the polydactyly allele have extra fingers or toes.