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.)

homozygous

hybrid

recessive

heterozygous

Answer 1

The child's genetic makeup for eye color can be described as:

- **hybrid**: This term indicates that the child has two different alleles for eye color (one brown and one blue).

- **heterozygous**: This also indicates that the child has two different alleles for the eye color gene (one brown allele and one blue allele).

The terms **homozygous** and **recessive** do not apply in this case:
- **Homozygous** refers to having two identical alleles for a trait, which is not the case here.
- **Recessive** refers to an allele that does not manifest in the phenotype in the presence of a dominant allele; while blue is recessive, the child’s overall genetic makeup is not described solely by this term.

So, the applicable terms for the child’s genetic makeup are **hybrid** and **heterozygous**.