Dominant alleles are represented by what
A:Male gene
B:lowercase letter
C:capital letter
D:recessive trait
The correct answer is C: capital letter.
To understand why dominant alleles are represented by capital letters, we need to first understand the concept of alleles. Alleles are alternative forms of a gene that occupy the same position (locus) on a specific chromosome. They can exist in different versions, such as dominant or recessive forms.
Dominant alleles are those that mask the presence of a recessive allele when present in an individual's genotype. They are expressed as observable traits in an organism. In genetic notation, dominant alleles are typically represented by using capital letters to indicate their dominance.
On the other hand, recessive alleles require two copies (one from each parent) to be expressed in an individual's phenotype. They are represented using lowercase letters.
This naming convention makes it easy to identify and differentiate between dominant and recessive alleles when representing genetic information or constructing Punnett squares to predict the outcome of genetic crosses.