Question

How do autosomal traits differ from sex-linked traits?

Answer 1

Traits are specific characteristics that are inherited in a person from their parents and are known as one of the distinguishing features of organisms.

Complete answer:
Traits can be of two types that are autosomal and sex-linked traits. The difference between them can be described in the following few points.

Autosomal traits	Sex-linked traits
1.The inheritance of autosomal traits is based on the autosomal chromosomes.	1.The inheritance of sex-linked inheritance is based on the sex-chromosomes.
2. The inheritance of autosomal traits follows Mendelian principles.	2.The inheritance of sex-linked traits follow the criss-cross inheritance and do not follow Mendelian principles.
3. The inheritance of autosomal traits are equal for both male and female because they both have the same number of autosomes.	3. The inheritance of sex-linked traits mainly affects males because they only have one X chromosome whereas females have two X chromosomes, hence are least affected.
4. The autosomal traits are classified as autosomal dominant traits and autosomal recessive traits.	4. The sex-linked traits are classified as Sex-linked dominant traits and sex-linked recessive traits.
5.Mostly all the alleles are involved	5.Only alleles of X-chromosome are involved.

Note: The Sex-linked traits can be easily studied using a family tree but the autosomal traits cannot be easily studied using a family tree. The examples of the autosomal dominant trait are Huntington disease, the example of an autosomal recessive trait is sickle cell anemia, the example of sex-linked dominant disease is Rett syndrome and an example of sex-linked recessive disease is hemophilia.