gen-explain-dominant-and-recessive-alleles-as-you-would-to-a-cap-3f55

Explain dominant and recessive alleles as you would to a capable student, in 3-4 sentences.

When you inherit two different versions (alleles) of a gene—one from each parent—a **dominant allele** is the one that gets expressed and determines your observable trait, while a **recessive allele** is masked and doesn't show up in your appearance. For example, if you inherit a dominant brown eye allele (B) from one parent and a recessive blue eye allele (b) from the other, you'll have brown eyes because the dominant allele "overrides" the recessive one. The recessive trait only appears when you inherit two copies of the recessive allele (bb), with no dominant allele present to mask it. This explains why two brown-eyed parents who both carry a hidden recessive allele can sometimes have a blue-eyed child.