Understanding Homozygosity and its Influence on Genetic Traits

Homozygous

Homozygous refers to an organism that has two identical alleles for a particular gene

Homozygous refers to an organism that has two identical alleles for a particular gene. Alleles are alternate forms of a gene that determine a specific trait. In a homozygous individual, both alleles inherited from its parents for a particular gene are the same.

There are two types of homozygosity – homozygous dominant and homozygous recessive. In homozygous dominant individuals, both alleles for a specific gene are dominant. This means that the dominant allele will be expressed and will determine the phenotype of the organism. For example, if we consider the gene for eye color, an organism with homozygous dominant alleles (BB) will have the phenotype for brown eyes.

On the other hand, in homozygous recessive individuals, both alleles for a specific gene are recessive. In this case, the recessive allele will be expressed, and the dominant allele will be masked or not expressed. Using the same example, an organism with homozygous recessive alleles (bb) for the eye color gene will have the phenotype for blue eyes, as the recessive allele for blue eyes is expressed.

Homozygosity is important because it helps determine the inheritance of traits and the likelihood of passing on specific alleles to offspring. It also plays a role in genetic disorders. For example, individuals who are homozygous recessive for certain genetic disorders may display the phenotype associated with that disorder.

In genetics, the term homozygous is typically represented using letters. Capital letters (e.g., AA) are used to represent a homozygous dominant genotype, while lowercase letters (e.g., aa) are used to represent a homozygous recessive genotype.

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