Does humans have both recessive and dominant traits

When fertilization occurs between two true-breeding parents that differ in only one characteristic, the process is called a monohybrid cross, and the resulting offspring are monohybrids. The Punnett Square Approach for a Monohybrid Cross Therefore, we would refer to the genotype of a homozygous dominant pea plant with violet flowers as VV, a homozygous recessive pea plant with white flowers as vv, and a heterozygous pea plant with violet flowers as Vv. Furthermore, we will use uppercase and lowercase letters to represent dominant and recessive alleles, respectively. For example, violet is the dominant trait for a pea plantвЂ™s flower color, so the flower-color gene would be abbreviated as V (note that it is customary to italicize gene designations). For the purposes of this chapter, we will abbreviate genes using the first letter of the geneвЂ™s corresponding dominant trait. Several conventions exist for referring to genes and alleles. Human Inheritance in Dominant and Recessive Patterns The recessive allele will only be observed in homozygous recessive individuals ( (Figure)). For a gene that is expressed in a dominant and recessive pattern, homozygous dominant and heterozygous organisms will look identical (that is, they will have different genotypes but the same phenotype). We now know that these so-called unit factors are actually genes on homologous chromosome pairs. Mendel called the dominant allele the expressed unit factor the recessive allele was referred to as the latent unit factor. In all seven pea-plant characteristics, one of the two contrasting alleles was dominant, and the other was recessive. Our discussion of homozygous and heterozygous organisms brings us to why the F 1 heterozygous offspring were identical to one of the parents, rather than expressing both alleles. When P 1 plants with contrasting traits were cross-fertilized, all of the offspring were heterozygous for the contrasting trait, meaning that their genotype reflected that they had different alleles for the gene being examined. MendelвЂ™s parental pea plants always bred true because both of the gametes produced carried the same trait. Diploid organisms that are homozygous at a given gene, or locus, have two identical alleles for that gene on their homologous chromosomes. The P 1 plants that Mendel used in his experiments were each homozygous for the trait he was studying. Therefore, the F 1 plants must have been genotypically different from the parent with yellow pods. However, we know that the allele donated by the parent with green pods was not simply lost because it reappeared in some of the F 2 offspring. That is, the hybrid offspring were phenotypically identical to the true-breeding parent with yellow pods. When true-breeding plants in which one parent had yellow pods and one had green pods were cross-fertilized, all of the F 1 hybrid offspring had yellow pods. MendelвЂ™s hybridization experiments demonstrate the difference between phenotype and genotype. An organismвЂ™s underlying genetic makeup, consisting of both physically visible and non-expressed alleles, is called its genotype. The observable traits expressed by an organism are referred to as its phenotype.

Two alleles for a given gene in a diploid organism are expressed and interact to produce physical characteristics. Mendel examined the inheritance of genes with just two allele forms, but it is common to encounter more than two alleles for any given gene in a natural population. Gene variants that arise by mutation and exist at the same relative locations on homologous chromosomes are called alleles. Diploid organisms produce haploid gametes, which contain one copy of each homologous chromosome that unite at fertilization to create a diploid zygote.ДЇor cases in which a single gene controls a single characteristic, a diploid organism has two genetic copies that may or may not encode the same version of that characteristic. The same is true for many other plants and for virtually all animals. In other words, peas are diploid organisms in that they have two copies of each chromosome. Each pair of homologous chromosomes has the same linear order of genes. The genetic makeup of peas consists of two similar, or homologous, copies of each chromosome, one from each parent. Physical characteristics are expressed through genes carried on chromosomes.

Identify non-Mendelian inheritance patterns such as incomplete dominance, codominance, recessive lethals, multiple alleles, and sex linkage.

Explain the purpose and methods of a test cross.

Develop a Punnett square to calculate the expected proportions of genotypes and phenotypes in a monohybrid cross.

Explain the relationship between genotypes and phenotypes in dominant and recessive gene systems.

By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:

Does humans have both recessive and dominant traits