Dominance (genetics)

Dominance (genetics)

Dominance in genetics is a relationship between alleles of a gene, in which one allele masks the expression (phenotype) of another allele at the same locus. In the simplest case, where a gene exists in two allelic forms (designated A and B), three combinations of alleles (genotypes) are possible: AA, AB, and BB. If AA and BB individuals (homozygotes) show different forms of the trait (phenotype), and AB individuals (heterozygotes) show the same phenotype as AA individuals, then allele A is said to dominate or be dominant to or show dominance to allele B, and B is said to be recessive to A. If instead AB has the same phenotype as BB, B is dominant to A.

Read more about Dominance (genetics):  Nomenclature, Molecular Mechanisms, Dominant and Recessive Genetic Diseases in Humans, History

Famous quotes containing the word dominance:

    It is better for a woman to compete impersonally in society, as men do, than to compete for dominance in her own home with her husband, compete with her neighbors for empty status, and so smother her son that he cannot compete at all.
    Betty Friedan (b. 1921)