Why are most genetic diseases inheruted as recessives rather than dominants?

Answer 1

There are 2 reasons for this:

1) The disease is usually a mutation and as a general rule these mutations tend to be recessive

2) If the defective gene becomes dominant then all carriers will be effected and result in the potential dying out, thus removing the mutant gene from the gene pool.

Hope that makes sense.
Good luck

Answer 2

The first answer is almost correct; however, natural selection almost always operates on individuals rather than species. So any individual with a dominant genetic disorder would be at a selective disadvantage compared to others of their species. The ones without the disorder would be more likely to survive and have offspring.

The same is true of recessive genetic disorders, but they're easier to pass along because you can be a carrier without it affecting your chances of survival and reproduction. So they tend to stay in the gene pool more than dominant disorders.

Answer 3

because if the recessives appeared most of the time, they would be dominant and you would see them more often. The definitions of recessive and dominant will explain it. for instance, hemophilia but if a Mom has a recessive gene for it and a Dad has a recessive gene for it a child may actually have the disease. If one parent has on recessive gene for it, and the other parent doesnt, the child won't have the disease

Answer 4

Recessive genes are less likely to be eradicated by natural selection.
Let's imagine a situation - a disease-causing gene is dominant...
It is expressed in the carrier, who dies before being able to reproduce.
Before long, the gene will be almost completely eradicated because the carriers are unable to reproduce and pass it on.
Recessive genes do not always express themselves, allowing the carriers to reproduce and therefore pass on the gene to their offspring

Answer 5

Natural selection favors healthier organisms. If some disease is dominant in a population, lots of people would have the disease and it would affect their quality of life and ability to reproduce, and thereby pass on the disease.

Answer 6

Well because if they were dominants they would be so common that the species would be weaker. If we were a weaker species we would have yielded to natural selection.