Genetics Questions and Answers
Genetics Questions and Answers
Genetics Questions and Answers
bodies, like height, eye color, skin color, blood typethe list goes on and on. Since you inherit your genetic material from your parents, its pretty common for you to inherit certain traits that are present in their DNA! next is called heredity.
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is the molecule that carries the
instructions for how each cell in your body should grow and behave. It carries the genetic code that determines your hair color, eye color, skin color, body type, and lots of other factors.
DNA is present in all living cells, too plants, animals, fungi, and protists all
have DNA. Your DNA is like your genetic thumbprint. It is yours and yours alone. You inherit it from your biological mom and dad. Unless you have an identical twin, no one else on the planet has exactly the same DNA as you, even your brothers and sisters.
Environmental factorsincluding the region where you live, your diet, and your lifestylealso contribute to how you look, but the basic blueprint of your body is contained in your DNA.
Having brown eyes is a dominant trait (B), while blue eyes are
recessive (b). What this means is that someone needs to have two copies of the blue-eye gene (bb) in order to have blue eyes.
If theres one copy of the dominant allele (B), the person will have
brown eyes. So, someone who has brown eyes can have the genotype BB or Bb. If theyre BB, that means theyre going to pass on a dominant allele to their offspring, who will also have brown eyes. If theyre Bb, they can pass on either a B or a b, so the offsprings eyes can be blue or brown, depending on the gene the other parent contributes.