You are a combination of your parents' genes. But why do you have the same colour hair as your mother instead of your father? Why are you already taller than your mother? Why is your body the same shape as your mother's and not your father's? The answer is in your genes, which you received from both parents. In this lesson, you will learn about how inherited characteristics contribute to the survival of the species.

A gene is an uninterrupted part of your DNA that contains coded instructions that make you who you are. They tell your body how tall to grow, whether you will be thinly shaped or thicker shaped, the colour of your hair, the colour of your eyes, etc.

 

 

@creativecommons

 

 

When we talk about the way we are made from our genes, we often mention our traits. These are the features that help to distinguish one person from another person.

There are two types of traits to consider:

1. A dominant trait "appears" when a new individual is formed. For example, if black hair is dominant to red hair and a black-haired man and a red-haired woman have a baby, the baby will have black hair. This is because the trait for black hair overrides the trait for red hair.
2. Red hair would be the recessive trait in this case. The new baby would still carry the traits for both black hair and red hair but would display black hair. However, when this baby grows up and has a child of its own, the child may have red hair because the trait for red hair is still being passed to the next generation. Red hair will occur only if the person mates with another person who is carrying the recessive gene for red hair.

Let's take a look at another example. Say that your dad had brown eyes, which is the dominant trait, and your mom had blue eyes, which is the recessive trait. You would have been born with brown eyes because the trait for brown eyes overrides the trait for blue eyes. However, your child may still have blue eyes because this trait is still being passed on to the next generation.

Heredity is the passing on of characteristics from one generation to the next. It is the reason why offspring look like their parents. It also explains why cats always give birth to kittens and never puppies. The process of heredity occurs among all living things.

 

 

@unsplash

 

When two parents with pure traits breed, the result is called a hybrid. A hybrid is what was just described above; it is someone who displays one characteristic but also carries another characteristic of some trait (such as hair colour) in their genes.

The fact that you inherit traits from both of your parents is important. The fact that there is variety within our species helps our species to survive.