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Alleles occur in pairs; just as one pair of each type of chromosome is inherited from each
parent, so too each pair of alleles inherited from each parent.
The allele which is traditionally indicated by an uppercase (capital) letter is the
dominant trait. The allele which is traditionally indicated by a lowercase (small)
letter is the recessive trait.
If a sperm cell has e and the egg cell has e, the offspring must have ee. That is called
homozygous (pure) recessive. That means the person would have an attached earlobe.
If a sperm cell has E and the egg cell has E, the offspring must have EE. This is called
homozygous (pure) dominant. That means the person would have an unattached
earlobe.
The term for “pure” is homo. It refers to something being the same. The old days, you
had to shake up milk because the cream would rise to the top. Nowadays, people want
less fat, so the cream is removed before you get it; this is called homogenized milk. A
homogenized mixture is one that is the same throughout, and requires no periodic mixing.
Therefore, when the allele pairs are either EE or ee, they are homozygous.
If one of the sex cells has E and the other sex cell has e, what will the offspring have? Ee.
What type of earlobe will they have? Attached. Why? Because the dominant trait is
stronger, so if it is present at all, it will manifest.
E e
E EE Ee
e Ee ee
That means that when Harry meets Sally, their child has a 25% chance (1:3) of being ee,
and 25% chance of being EE, and 50% chance (1:1) of being Ee.
But that’s just the genotype. What about the phenotype (what will the child look like)?
There is a 75% chance (3:1) of having an attached earlobe (ee).