Question
Which is most likely explanation for a child exhibiting a heritable trait that neither parent exhibits?
1. the parent have recessive alleles, and the child inherited a dominant allele
2. the trait is recessive, and the child inherited a recessive allele from each parent
3. a grandparent exhibits the trait, the the child inherited it directly from that person
4. a mutation occured and the child exhibits an new trait due to the mutation
1. the parent have recessive alleles, and the child inherited a dominant allele
2. the trait is recessive, and the child inherited a recessive allele from each parent
3. a grandparent exhibits the trait, the the child inherited it directly from that person
4. a mutation occured and the child exhibits an new trait due to the mutation
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The most likely explanation for a child exhibiting a heritable trait that neither parent exhibits is:
**2. The trait is recessive, and the child inherited a recessive allele from each parent.**
In this scenario, both parents may carry one copy of the recessive allele for the trait (denoted as "a") but do not express it themselves since they also carry a dominant allele (denoted as "A"). If the child inherits the recessive allele from both parents (genotype "aa"), the child will express the recessive trait even though neither parent shows it.
The other options present possible scenarios, but option 2 is the most straightforward and common explanation in classical genetics for such a situation.
**2. The trait is recessive, and the child inherited a recessive allele from each parent.**
In this scenario, both parents may carry one copy of the recessive allele for the trait (denoted as "a") but do not express it themselves since they also carry a dominant allele (denoted as "A"). If the child inherits the recessive allele from both parents (genotype "aa"), the child will express the recessive trait even though neither parent shows it.
The other options present possible scenarios, but option 2 is the most straightforward and common explanation in classical genetics for such a situation.