What is the name of a gene that can be masked by another gene?
The name of a gene that can be masked by another gene is called a recessive gene.
To understand why a gene can be masked, we need to look at how genes are inherited. Genes come in pairs, with one allele (variant of a gene) inherited from each parent. There are dominant alleles, which are expressed when present in just one copy, and recessive alleles, which require two copies to be expressed.
If a dominant allele is present, it will always be expressed, meaning the trait associated with that allele will be observed. On the other hand, recessive alleles are only expressed if there are no dominant alleles present.
For example, let's consider a gene that determines eye color. Suppose there are two alleles for this gene: brown (B) and blue (b). The brown allele is dominant, while the blue allele is recessive. If a person has one copy of the brown allele (Bb), their eye color will be brown, as the dominant allele masks the presence of the recessive allele. However, if they have two copies of the recessive allele (bb), their eyes will be blue.
So, in summary, a recessive gene is one that remains hidden or "masked" by a dominant gene, and it requires two copies of the recessive allele for the trait associated with it to be expressed.