Category: Science

The term epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression that do not alter the physical DNA sequence. This essentially is a transformation in phenotype without altering the genotype. This transformation is due to genes being switched both on or off at different times. Epigenetic change is a regular and natural occurrence, but can be … Continue reading Epigenetics

You may be thinking that both males and females have the same probability of inheriting any specific gene, however you would be wrong. Gender plays a large role in the probability of an individual’s chances of inheriting specific traits. There are three main variations of how gender can influence the appearance of certain traits: sex-linked … Continue reading Gender and Genes

Unlike an autosomal dominant trait, the characteristics of a recessive trait can only be expressed if both alleles are recessive. If a recessive allele is paired with a dominant allele, then the dominant allele will cancel out the expression of recessive allele. The first characteristic of an autosomal recessive trait is that males and females are … Continue reading Characteristics of Autosomal Recessive Traits

Unlike an autosomal recessive trait, an autosomal dominant trait is not reliant on the presence of two dominant alleles. Instead, an autosomal dominant trait only requires that one of the two alleles present is dominant.  This one dominant allele, hence the name, cancels out the possibility of the recessive allele affecting the characteristics the offspring of two parents. … Continue reading Characteristics of Autosomal Dominant Traits

When two parents are expecting a child, nerves are high and a lot is at stake. Parents want their children to be born perfectly healthy, but there really isn’t much that they can do to sway the course of probability and genetics. When an egg is fertilized by a sperm cell, the gender along with … Continue reading How Many Chromosomes Does My Baby Have?