Question
two different forms of a gene
Answers
GPT-4o mini
Two different forms of a gene are known as **alleles**. Alleles can vary slightly in their sequence of nucleotides, which can lead to differences in the traits they control. For example, in the case of a gene that determines flower color in a plant, one allele might code for red flowers while another allele might code for white flowers.
Alleles can be classified as:
1. **Dominant Alleles**: These alleles will express their trait even if only one copy is present (heterozygous condition). For instance, if the red flower allele is dominant, a plant with at least one red flower allele will display red flowers.
2. **Recessive Alleles**: These require two copies (homozygous condition) to express their trait. Using the previous example, a plant would need two copies of the white flower allele to actually display white flowers.
Multiple alleles can also exist for a single gene, leading to a variety of possible traits in a population, such as in blood types in humans (A, B, AB, and O blood types).
Alleles can be classified as:
1. **Dominant Alleles**: These alleles will express their trait even if only one copy is present (heterozygous condition). For instance, if the red flower allele is dominant, a plant with at least one red flower allele will display red flowers.
2. **Recessive Alleles**: These require two copies (homozygous condition) to express their trait. Using the previous example, a plant would need two copies of the white flower allele to actually display white flowers.
Multiple alleles can also exist for a single gene, leading to a variety of possible traits in a population, such as in blood types in humans (A, B, AB, and O blood types).