Question
A child with brown eyes inherited a brown-eyed gene from one parent and a blue-eyed gene from the other parent. Which of these describes the child’s genetic makeup for eye color? (Select all that apply.)
recessive
hybrid
homozygous
heterozygous
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The child's genetic makeup for eye color can be described as:
- **Hybrid**: This term typically refers to an organism that has two different alleles for a specific trait (in this case, one brown-eyed gene and one blue-eyed gene).
- **Heterozygous**: This term specifically describes an organism that has two different alleles for a particular gene, which applies here since the child has one brown-eyed allele (dominant) and one blue-eyed allele (recessive).
The terms **recessive** and **homozygous** do not apply in this case. While the blue-eyed gene is recessive, it doesn’t describe the child’s overall genetic makeup as the child has both a brown and a blue allele, making them heterozygous, not homozygous (which would mean having two identical alleles).
In summary, the correct descriptions are:
- Hybrid
- Heterozygous
- **Hybrid**: This term typically refers to an organism that has two different alleles for a specific trait (in this case, one brown-eyed gene and one blue-eyed gene).
- **Heterozygous**: This term specifically describes an organism that has two different alleles for a particular gene, which applies here since the child has one brown-eyed allele (dominant) and one blue-eyed allele (recessive).
The terms **recessive** and **homozygous** do not apply in this case. While the blue-eyed gene is recessive, it doesn’t describe the child’s overall genetic makeup as the child has both a brown and a blue allele, making them heterozygous, not homozygous (which would mean having two identical alleles).
In summary, the correct descriptions are:
- Hybrid
- Heterozygous