Allele

| This page contains too many unsourced statements and needs to be improved.

* * *

Allele could use some help. Please research the article's assertions. Whatever is credible should be sourced, and what is not should be removed.

|

We're all Homo here
Evolution

Relevant Hominids

* Charles Darwin
* Alfred Russel Wallace
* Gregor Mendel
* Richard Dawkins
* Jerry Coyne

A Gradual Science

* Tree of life
* Ring species
* The Voyage that Shook the World
* Francisco Ayala

Plain Monkey Business

* Young Earth Creationism
* Old Earth Creationism
* Intelligent Design
* Microevolution vs. Macroevolution

v \- t \- e

An allele is a variation of a gene.

## Contents

* 1 Alleles in the genome
* 2 Dominant and recessive genes
* 3 See also
* 4 External links

## Alleles in the genome[edit]

Most genes only have one allele; however, some have multiple variants. For example, the gene for eye color in humans (and some other animals) has several alleles: blue, green, brown, etc. In paired chromosomes, it is possible to have two alleles present, one in each copy of the chromosome. Where both alleles are the same in the pair, the organism is referred to as homozygous with respect to that gene. Where the alleles are different, it is referred to as heterozygous.

## Dominant and recessive genes[edit]

Alleles can be described as "dominant" or "recessive" and a mixture of the two can appear in allele pairs in the genome. In some cases, one allele will be dominant while the other is recessive, and the dominant gene will be the only allele expressed. Only individuals with two recessive alleles of a gene (homozygous recessive) will express the recessive form. Genes may also be co-dominant (both or all alleles expressed) or have incomplete dominance (alleles "blend" to form an intermediate type in the phenotype).

## See also[edit]

* Genetics

## External links[edit]

* See the Wikipedia article on allele.

This evolution-related article is a stub.
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.