Question

What is the dominant trait?
1. The traits which are expressed in the offspring.
2. The traits which are not expressed in the offspring.
3. The traits which undergo sudden heritable change.
4. Both A and B

Answer 1

Heredity is termed as the transmission of characters from the parents to their offspring. A recognizable feature of a human being (or any other organism) like height, complexion, shape of hair, colour of eyes, shape of nose and chin are referred as traits.

Complete answer:
There are two types of traits:
Dominant- The traits which are visibly expressed in offspring are called the dominant traits. It can be expressed with different alternative genes.
Recessive- The traits which are present at gene level but do not express or show itself in the offspring are known as the recessive traits. Only expressed in the presence of another identical gene.
Mendel called the repressed trait of ‘dwarfness’ as ‘recessive trait’ and the expressed trait of ‘tallness’ as the ‘dominant trait’. Let us take the examples for understanding more about dominant traits.
This example shows the punnett square with F1 and F2 generation of an eye colour. Eye colour is a trait which shows variation among the individual of a species. In this ‘B’ refers to the dominant allele. So, even if there is only one dominant allele, it expresses itself in the offspring and codes for the traits (homozygous – BB, heterozygous – Bb).

Similarly, this example shows the punnett square of the colour of petals of the flower. It represents the pure red, hybrid red and pure white traits. As the ‘R’ refers to the dominant allele and expresses itself in the offspring and codes for the traits (homozygous – RR, heterozygous – Rr).

So, the correct answer is option (A) The traits which are expressed in the offspring.

Note: Inheritance is the transmission of genetically controlled characteristics from one generation to the next generation. Also, it is very important to know that the dominant traits are not always good or better than recessive traits as they can give rise to many serious health issues in any organism.