Dominant and Recessive Traits

At the time of conception, sperm cell fuses with the ovum to create a new cell called Zygot with 46 (23 pairs) chromosomes. On each pair of Chromosomes, there are two genes that determine the inherited trait. This gene pair is called allele. If the two pair of allele are identical (one pair from each parent), the off spring will express that trait.

Normally, there are  two types of genes for each trait: Dominant, and Recessive. Dominant genes when paired with recessive gene determines the trait to be expressed. Recessive gene is not expressed when paired with dominant gene. Recessive genes are only expressed when paired with another recessive gene.

Twenty two pair of Chromosomes look alike and are called autosomes. The twenty-third pair is different, two X-chromosomes for female, one X- and one Y- chromosome for a male. Therefore, this is called sex linked chromosomes.

Genes associated with dominant traits have more complete information than the recessive traits.

The dominant trait genes always trump the recessive trait genes.

The Dominate/ Recessive is a comparative concept as well, which means that brown eye color is dominant trait when compared to grey, green, hazel, or blue eye colors.