Chapter 11, Problem 10A

Summary Introduction

To replace:

The underlined term with correct vocabulary terminthe given sentence

Introduction:

Genetic disorders result from inheritance of traits which are either dominant or recessive. The basic patterns of human inheritance follow Mendel’s law of inheritance but there are some complex inheritances of traits that do not follow inheritance pattern described by Mendel. These are incomplete dominance and codominance.

Answer to Problem 10A

Incomplete dominance is an inheritance pattern in which the heterozygous genotype results in an intermediate phenotype between the dominant and recessive phenotype.

Explanation of Solution

According to Mendel’s law of inheritance, if an organism is heterozygous for a trait, its phenotype will be that of the dominant trait. In some cases such as snapdragons, a heterozygous offspring of red and white snapdragons produce an intermediate phenotype (pink flowers) between the two homozygous phenotypes. Such inheritance pattern is called incomplete dominance.

Codominance is a complex inheritance pattern in which the heterozygous genotype results in expression of both phenotypes;the dominant and recessive phenotype. Example is seen in inheritance of sickle cell disease in which both sickle shaped cells and normal red blood cells are present.

Hence, the correct word in the given sentence is incomplete dominance and not codominance.