History
The history of genetics starts with geneticist Gregor Johann Mendel. Between 1856-1863 he experimented on over 5000 pea plants in order to understand genetics better. In 1866 he published his experiments on pea plants. This series of experiments are described as the Mendelian Inheritance Laws. In order to explain inheritance patterns better Mendel created the terms "Dominant" and "recessive". The picture below shows the seven characteristics he studied in the peas.
What are Inheritance Patterns?
Inheritance patterns describe how a disease is transmitted through a family. These patterns help predict who will inherit a disease and who will be a carrier. A carrier is typically a woman who did not inherit the disease but will pass it on to her children. Patterns are classified based on whether they are autosomal or x-linked and if they are dominant or recessive. An inheritance pattern is classified a dominant if the person only has one copy of that gene.
Dominant Genes
Dominate Phenotypes more common than recessive phenotypes. (phenotype is a set of observable characteristics)
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Recessive GenesA recessive allele will always be over powered by the dominate allele. for example, if your mom has a recessive gene for green eyes and your dad has a dominate gene for brown eyes, you will end up having brown eyes.
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