The Biology of Genetic Dominance

The word dominance, in the context of genetics, has been used for a long time applied to characters or to alleles
The word dominance, in the context of genetics, has been used for a long time applied to characters or to alleles. A dominant character masks the expression of an alternative form. This loose definition would even apply when these alternatives are not determined by alleles of the same locus. In turn, a dominant allele refers to an alternative version at the same locus. This dual usage has led, as expected, to some confusion and shows how statistics can complement verbal definitions. Mendel, the pioneer of genetics, did not know the bases of the phenomenon of dominance. Nor was he completely certain to look at characters defined by alleles. But the ubiquity of the phenomenon caused him to elevate his observations to the category of laws, that went, unfortunately, unnoticed until they were rediscovered decades later. Today, dominan