What is a recessive gene?

Question

I'm ginger and my parents aren't people are always telling me that it is a recessive gene....
but i dont know what that means...
help?
xx

Answer 1

Hi
i will help u................

Recessive gene........It is that one that is present in the parents chromosome, but appears or expresses itself, until 2 generations later (for instance, blue eyes in the grandsons but not in sons)...the skipping gene "recedes" to the generation of the grand parents...,.....................

A gene that produces its characteristic phenotype only when its allele is identical is called as a Rescessive Gene

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IN MEDICAL WORDS

A gene that is phenotypically expressed in the homozygous state but has its expression masked in the presence of a dominant gene.

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MORE DETAIL ON RECESSIVE GENE
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It refers to an allele that causes a phenotype (visible or detectable characteristic) that is only seen in homozygous genotype (an organism that has two copies of the same allele) and never in a heterozygous genotype.

Every person has two copies of every gene on autosomal chromosomes, one from mother and one from father.

If a genetic trait is recessive, a person needs to inherit two copies of the gene for the trait to be expressed.

Thus, both parents have to be carriers of a recessive trait in order for a child to express that trait. If both parents are carriers, there is a 25% chance with each child to show the recessive trait.

The term "recessive gene" is part of the laws of Mendelian inheritance created by Gregor Mendel. Examples of recessive genes in Mendel's famous pea plant experiments include those that determine the color and shape of seed pods, and plant height.

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Hope this is the beat and most appropriate answer....
all the best

Answer 2

Recessive allele:
The term "recessive gene" refers to an allele that causes a phenotype (visible or detectable characteristic) that is only seen in homozygous genotype (an organism that has two copies of the same allele) and never in a heterozygous genotype. Every person has two copies of every gene on autosomal chromosomes, one from mother and one from father. If a genetic trait is recessive, a person needs to inherit two copies of the gene for the trait to be expressed. Thus, both parents have to be carriers of a recessive trait in order for a child to express that trait. If both parents are carriers, there is a 25% chance with each child to show the recessive trait.
The term "recessive gene" is part of the laws of Mendelian inheritance created by Gregor Mendel. Examples of recessive genes in Mendel's famous pea plant experiments include those that determine the color and shape of seed pods, and plant height.

Answer 3

Dominant and recessive are relative terms. You can't really say that allele A is dominant, and B is recessive. You can only say that A is dominant TO B, or B is dominant to A. You might discover allele C, which is dominant to A and B. But when you have two alleles in the same person, they cannot both be recessive. It's like having two people standing in line, and they're both in second place. One has to be dominant to the other, or else they show incomplete or codominance. So your first question is unanswerable. It's based on a faulty understanding of what the words mean. The answer to your second question is that it depends on if the disease allele is dominant or recessive to the "normal" allele. If the disease allele is recessive, it takes two X-chromosomes. If it's dominant, it only takes one. Your third question is also unanswerable, because you use the word "this" to refer to a situation that doesn't make sense, as spelled out in the first question. However, in general terms, co-dominance would mean that BOTH alleles are fully expressed. This can't really apply to disease alleles, because a codominant disease would mean that you are both fully healthy and fully diseased at the same time. Incomplete dominance means that you have one healthy allele and one disease allele, and you're sort of halfway sick. This is seen in some diseases. Heterozygotes may have a less severe disease, or have a smaller chance of developing the disease. That would be incomplete dominance.

Answer 4

Genes are inherited from your parents. Everyone has two forms of every gene, known as alleles. One set comes from mum and one from dad. These alleles can be Dominant or Recessive. If an allele is dominant it is shown in the physical appearance of the person. Recessive alleles are only shown physical if the alleles from both the parents are recessive.
Red hair aka ginger,appears in people with two copies of a mutated gene on chromosome 16,

There are two types of pigment that give hair its color: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is black and pheomelanin is red. i


Red hair is caused by a mutation of the Mc1r gene and is believed to be recessive. although this is based on gregory mendels pea throry, some factors can affect this theory... Red hair has the highest amounts of pheomelanin and usually low levels of eumelanin. Natural redheads have the thickest strands of hair.

Answer 5

In simple language, it's the gene that only pops up every now and then (approx. 3 generations) the dominant gets shoved to one side and the recessive one will cause a 'throwback' of perhaps brown eyes, when most of the family have blue, ginger hair when normally brown. See if any earlier ancestors have ginger hair, it's fun and you learn about where these recessive genes have been working.

Answer 6

it means that if your parents have say brown hair, then that is their dominant gene but they will also have a recessive gene for ginger, when you were conceived you got the recessive gene from both of them and therefore have ginger hair

Answer 7

Sometimes its easier to say that a recessive trait/conditions/gene is something that is NOT produced.

For example red/ginger hair is a LACK of pigments, as is blue eye colour...its not only a lack of a pigment, but it could be the lack of a step in process to produce something.....

As pointed out recessive traits need to have TWO copies of the recessive gene ( code) to show the recessive trait ( as we have 2 sets of chromosomes, where genes occur).

A dominant trait is where only 1 allele ( of version of that particular gene) needs to be present to produce that dominant trait eg. coloured hair has pigments, that are produced from a dominant trait.

I am going to point out that dominant and recessive genes DO NOT occur in every trait...dominant/recessive or also known as complete dominance ( where only 1 version of the dominant gene will show the dominant condition) is 1 type of inheritance, but in other traits you can have several genes working together ( eg skin colour), a kind of mixing of parents characters ( incopmplete dominance) and even new combinations of features not seen in either parent.........

The main point is I guess is that recessive is usually "missing" something that the dominant allele has.....

Answer 8

As simply as I can make it - you have a glass of milk (white) and you tip in some strawberry syrup (pink or red), the milk is still there but you can't see the whiteness because the pink has dominated it.
So - if you have a Dad with brown hair and a Mum with brown hair, it may be that they both are carrying (hidden or recessive) the gene which makes red hair. Hey Presto - new baby gets a double dose of the red hair gene and is born red headed.
Red hair crops up from time to time in my family and in my husband's family - our daughter has red hair.
I don't know if this next bit of info will make you happy or not - some scientists are suggesting that the gene which causes red hair may be Neanderthal in origin!

Answer 9

it means that it is not a dominant gene.
if your parents do tell that, it's probably because they are not ginger phenotypically (from the appearance). they probably have brown hair or sth darker but there are the genes of ginger stored in their cells maybe from their parents or maybe from a distant relative. as the gene of darker hair is more dominant than ginger they appear with darker hair, but you must have got the ginger genes from both of your parents so they're both recessive, there is no dominant gene to boss around, thus they can show themselves in your appearance and you're ginger.

*sorry quite a complicated answer!

Answer 10

It means that you inherited one copy of the gene from each of your parents. Your parents therefore carried the gene but may not express it if it were "masked" by the dominant gene. Recessive genes need to be in double dose before they are expressed.