Difference Between Dominant and Recessive

Dominant vs Recessive

Genetics is the science of heredity, genes, and the differences in living organisms. It is a biological discipline that deals with the structure and function of genes, their behavior and patterns of inheritance from the parents to the offspring.

In the case of humans, as each individual is formed by the union of the egg and sperm cells of both parents, a diploid cell containing the necessary genetic materials to create him is developed. This genetic material is composed of chromosomes with individual genes or alleles containing specific traits. For each trait, an individual acquires two copies of genes or alleles, one from the mother and the other from the father.

If the two alleles from both parents are similar, the offspring is homozygous, and if they are different, the offspring is heterozygous in which case the stronger of the two will show up in the offspring while the weaker one is masked.

The allele or gene that shows up is called “dominant,” and the allele that is masked is called “recessive.” Recessive alleles or genes will only show up if the offspring inherits recessive copies of the trait from both parents.

Dominant genes are usually the ones that are oftentimes observed in an offspring and passed down to subsequent generations while recessive genes will only show for a few generations and eventually disappear. Dominant genes are represented by capital letters and recessive genes are represented by small letters. There are three combinations of genotypes or alleles: AA (receives dominant traits from both parents), Aa (receives a dominant trait from one parent and a recessive trait from the other), and aa (receives recessive traits from both parents).

Eye color is one example wherein dominant genes mask recessive genes. If one parent has brown eyes and the other blue, brown is the dominant color and blue is the recessive.
“AA” would mean that the offspring will have brown eyes receiving dominant genes from both parents; “Aa,” that he will have brown eyes with the recessive gene being masked by the dominant; and “aa,” that he will have blue eyes since he gets recessive genes from both parents.

In the case of an individual’s hair type, if both parents have straight hair, the offspring will surely have straight hair. If one parent has curly hair and the other straight hair, either the offspring gets a straight, curly, or wavy hair depending on the genetic makeup of the alleles of both parents.

Summary:

1.An individual receives two copies of each trait that he inherits from his parents, one from the mother and one from the father, with one of them dominant and the other recessive.
2.A dominant gene is one which is strong while a recessive gene is one which is weak.
3.A dominant gene will show up in the trait while a recessive gene, although still present, is masked or hidden by the dominant gene.
4.A recessive gene will only show up if the offspring inherits recessive genes from both parents.
5.Dominant genes are most likely to be passed down to future generations while recessive genes will slowly disappear.

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