6.1.12

Alleles

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Alleles

Alleles are different forms of the same gene. Humans have pairs of every gene and in one gene, each half of the pair may have different alleles. People's characteristics are determined by the alleles that they have. Alleles can either be dominant or recessive:

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Dominant Alleles

  • A dominant allele is always expressed, regardless of the identity of the other allele.
  • It only needs one copy present to be expressed (BB or Bb).
  • It is represented by a capital letter, e.g. B.
  • If B is the allele for brown eyes:
    • When a person has a copy of the B allele, they will have brown eyes, no matter what other allele is present.
Illustrative background for Recessive AllelesIllustrative background for Recessive Alleles ?? "content

Recessive Alleles

  • A recessive allele is only expressed if the other allele is also recessive.
  • It is represented by a lowercase letter e.g. b. It needs two copies to be present to be expressed (bb).
  • If b is the allele for blue eyes:
    • A person can only have blue eyes if both of their alleles are b.

Jump to other topics

1Cell Biology

1.1What's in Cells?

1.2Cell Division

1.3Transport in Cells

2Organisation

2.1Principles of Organisation

2.2Enzymes

2.3Circulatory System

2.4Non-Communicable Diseases

2.5Plant Tissues, Organs & Systems

3Infection & Response

4Bioenergetics

5Homeostasis & Response

5.1Homeostasis

5.2The Human Nervous System

5.3Hormonal Coordination in Humans

5.4Plant Hormones

6Inheritance, Variation & Evolution

7Ecology

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