Patterns of Inheritance: Dominant and Recessive Genes Explained

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Genes come in pairs, and each gene in a pair may differ slightly. One gene may be dominant, and override the other gene, which is recessive. A recessive gene only has an effect if both genes in a pair are recessive. An example is eye color. Although this is not as simple as depicted here, blue is the recessive gene, and brown is the dominant gene.

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Two Pairs of Recessive Genes


When both parents have blue eyes, as shown here, they will both have a pair of recessive genes for blue eye color. All of the children will therefore have blue eyes since there is no dominant gene present to mask the recessive gene.

Next: Recessive and Mixed Genes

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