MULTIPLE ALLELES It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to continue if we don't know what the word "allele" means.

allele = (n) a form of a gene which codes for one possible outcome of a phenotype For example, in Mendel's pea investigations, he found that there was a gene that determined the color of the pea pod. One form of it (one allele) creates yellow pods, & the other form (allele) creates green pods. Get it? Two possible phenotypes of one trait (pod color) are determined by two alleles (forms) of the one "color" gene. SOME BACKGROUND When the gene for one trait exists as only two alleles & the alleles play according to Mendel's Law of Dominance, there are 3 possible genotypes (combination of alleles) & 2 possible phenotypes (the dominant one or the recessive one). Using the pea pod trait as an example, the possibilities are like so:

GENOTYPES Homozygous Dominant (YY) Heterozygous (Yy) Homozygous Recessive (yy)

RESULTING PHENOTYPE Yellow Yellow Green

where Y = the dominant allele for yellow & y = the recessive allele for green

If there are only two alleles involved in determining the phenotype of a certain trait, but there are three possible phenotypes, then the inheritance of the trait illustrates either incomplete dominance or codominance. In these situations a heterozygous (hybrid) genotype produces a 3rd phenotype that is either a blend of the other two phenotypes (incomplete dominance) or a mixing of the other phenotypes with both appearing at the same time (codominance). Here's an example with Incomplete Dominance:

GENOTYPES BB = Homozygous Black BW = Heterozygous WW = Homozygous White

RESULTING PHENOTYPE Black Fur Grey Fur White Fur

where B = allele for black & W = allele for white And here's an example with Codominance:

GENOTYPES BB = Homozygous Black BW = Heterozygous WW = Homozygous White

RESULTING PHENOTYPE Black Fur Black & White Fur White Fur

where B = allele for black & W = allele for white

THE DEALS ON MULTIPLE ALLELES Now, if there are 4 or more possible phenotypes for a particular trait, then more than 2 alleles for that trait must exist in the population. We call this "MULTIPLE ALLELES". Let me stress something. There may be multiple alleles within the population, but individuals have only two of those alleles. Why? Because individuals have only two biological parents. We inherit half of our genes (alleles) from ma, & the other half from pa, so we end up with two alleles for every trait in our phenotype. An excellent example of multiple allele inheritance is human blood type. Blood type exists as four possible phenotypes: A, B, AB, & O. There are 3 alleles for the gene that determines blood type. (Remember: You have just 2 of the 3 in your genotype --- 1 from mom & 1 from dad).

The alleles are as follows:

ALLELE IA IB i

CODES FOR Type "A" Blood Type "B" Blood Type "O" Blood

Notice that, according to the symbols used in the table above, that the allele for "O" (i) is recessive to the alleles for "A" & "B". With three alleles we have a higher number of possible combinations in creating a genotype.

GENOTYPES IAIA IAi IBIB IBi IAIB ii Notes:

RESULTING PHENOTYPES Type A Type A Type B Type B Type AB Type O

As you can count, there are 6 different genotypes & 4 different phenotypes for blood type. Note that there are two genotypes for both "A" & "B" blood --- either homozygous (IAIAor IBIB) or heterozygous with one recessive allele for "O" (IAi or IBi). Note too that the only genotype for "O" blood is homozygous recessive (ii). And lastly, what's the deal with "AB" blood? What is this an example of? The "A" trait & the "B" trait appear together in the phenotype. Think think think .... {ANSWER} \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ n. Any of a set of three or more alleles, or alternative states of a gene, only two of which can be present in a diploid organism. Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/multiple-allele#ixzz1lYDp0gjg

Sex Linked Genes

A particularly important category of genetic linkage has to do with the X and Y sex chromosomes. These not only carry the genes that determine male and female traits but also those for some other characteristics as well. Genes that are carried by either sex chromosome are said to be sex linked. Men normally have an X and a Y combination of sex chromosomes, while women have two X's. Since only men inherit Y chromosomes, they are the only ones to inherit Y-linked traits. Men and women can get the X-linked ones since both inherit X chromosomes.

Sex cell inheritance patterns for male and female children

X-linked recessive traits that are not related to feminine body characteristics are primarily expressed in the observable characteristics, or phenotype , of men. This is due to the fact that men only have one X chromosome. Subsequently, genes on that chromosome not coding for gender are usually expressed in the male phenotype even if they are recessive since there are no corresponding genes on the Y chromosome in most cases. In women, a recessive allele on one X chromosome is often masked in their phenotype by a dominant normal allele on the other. This explains why women are frequently carriers of X-linked traits but more rarely have them expressed in their own phenotypes.

The "a" recessive allele will be expressed in his phenotype

The "a" recessive allele will not be expressed in her phenotype

male

female

There are about 1,098 human X-linked genes. Most of them code for something other than female anatomical traits. Many of the non-sex determining X-linked genes are responsible for abnormal conditions such as hemophilia , Duchenne muscular dystrophy , fragile-X syndrome , some high blood pressure, congenital night blindness, G6PD deficiency, and the most common human genetic disorder, red-green color blindness. X-linked genes are also responsible for a common form of baldness referred to as "male pattern baldness". If a woman is a carrier of an X-linked recessive allele for a disorder and her mate does not have it, their boys will have a 50% chance of inheriting the disorder. None of their girls will have it, but half of them are likely to be carriers.

dominant allele = A recessive allele = a

If a man has an X-linked recessive disorder and his mate does not carry the allele for it, all of their girls will be carriers. None of their boys will inherit the harmful allele. Only girls receive X chromosomes from their fathers. Queen Victoria of England was a carrier of the gene for hemophilia. She passed the harmful allele for this X-linked trait on to one of her four sons and at least two of her five daughters. Her son Leopold had the disease and died at age 30, while her daughters were only carriers. As a result of marrying into other European royal families, the princesses Alice and Beatrice spread hemophilia to Russia, Germany, and Spain. By the early 20th century, ten of Victoria's descendents had hemophilia. All of them were men, as expected.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) with her husband and nine children in 1857 By comparison to the X chromosome, the much smaller Y chromosome has only about 26 genes and gene families. Most of the Y chromosome genes are involved with essential cell house-keeping activities (16 genes) and sperm production (9 gene families). Only one of the Y chromosome genes, the SRY gene, is responsible for male anatomical traits. When any of the 9 genes involved in sperm production are missing or defective the result is usually very low sperm counts and subsequent infertility. One in six American couples are infertile. It is now thought that about 1/3 of these couples is unable to have children as a consequence of the male mate not having the necessary sperm producing genes on his Y chromosome. Because the Y chromosome only experiences recombination with the X chromosome at the ends (as a result of crossing-over), the Y chromosome essentially is reproduced via cloning from one generation to the next. This prevents mutant Y chromosome genes from being eliminated from male genetic lines except by inactivation or deletion. Subsequently, the Y chromosome now has few active genes and mostly contains genetic junk rather than genes. Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. They have been on a separate evolutionary path from humans for only 6-7 million years. Subsequently, we still share most of our genes. We differ by only 12% in terms of DNA sequences. However, the genes on the Y chromosome are a major exception. The DNA sequences on Y chromosomes of chimpanzees and humans differ by 30%. This indicates that Y chromosomes have been evolving at a much faster rate than the X and all other chromosomes.

NEWS: In the May 4, 2008 online issue of Nature, Ryohei Sekido and Robin Lowell-Badge reported that the SRY gene affects gender by activating and regulating a critical autosomal gene known as Sox9. If the Sox9 gene becomes active in an embryo with two X chromosomes, it causes male gonads to form instead of ovaries, and the individual develops into an anatomical male. If the Sox9 gene does not turn on in an embryo with XY sex chromosomes, the gonads develop into ovaries, and the individual becomes a female anatomically. The authors suggest that this could happen in up to 1 in 20,000 genetically male embryos (XY).

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ SEX-LINKED GENES

A sex-linked gene is any gene located on the X chromosome. The avian X chromosome is believed to contain about 10% of the genome or haploid genetic makeup. Sex-linked genes do not have an allelic counterpart on the Y chromosome; therefore, the female will carry only one allele for sex linked traits. This one-allelic condition is termed hemizygous in contrast to the homozygous and heterozygous possibilities in the male. The single sex-linked allele that is passed onto the female offspring from the male parent will be expressed by the female offspring. Again, only one sex-linked allele need be present in the female to be expressed.

Some sex-linked genes for cockatiel coloration and pattern include:

Phenotype

Genetic Control

Symbol

Pearl Cinnamon Lutino Yellowface

recessive recessive recessive recessive

pl c l yf

When the egg is fertilized, the embryo receives 1/2 of it s genetic makeup from the female and the other 1/2 from the male. Therefore, when calculating the probable outcome of a cross, only one sex chromosome from the male is combined with one sex chromosome from the female during fertilization. Since each bird has two chromosomes that make up the sex chromosomal pair, there will be four possible outcomes for any cross involving a single sex linked mutation. To explain sex-linked genes further, I will show two different crosses. The first cross involves a male with the Cinnamon phenotype ( that is, a visual Cinnamon plumage color). In order for the male to be a Cinnamon phenotype the Cinnamon gene must be present on both sex chromosomes (Xc,Xc) - the homozygous recessive condition. If you have a Cinnamon male (Xc,Xc) and cross it to a Cinnamon female (Xc,Y), all of the offspring will be Cinnamon. See Figure 8 below.

If the Cinnamon gene occurs on just one of the male s sex chromosomes (Xc,X+) he will not display the Cinnamon trait. In this case, the male is heterozygous (that is, contains both the dominant (+) and recessive (c) alleles). The phenotype for the heterozygous Cinnamon will be a Gray. In Figure 9 below a Gray Male heterozygous for Cinnamon (Xc,X+) is crossed to a Gray Female (X+,Y) hemizygous for the Gray gene. You will notice that not only does this produce four different types of offspring, but could also allow early sex determination since only half of the female offspring of this particular cross can display the Cinnamon trait. Hemophilia, certain types of baldness, the placement of sweat glands, and color blindness are all different types of sex-linked traits in humans.

An example of a sex-linked trait could be colorblindness, which is a recessive allele found on the x-chromosome. Recall that males have Xy chromosomes and females have XX chromosomes. In this instance, for a female to be colorblind, both x chromosomes would need to be recessive for this allele. If one or the other allele do not have this recessive trait, then colorblindness is not present. However, if a male were to be recessive for this trait on his only X chromosome, then he would be colorblind. haemophilia, Duchene muscular dystrophy (the most commonly known MD) sex linked traits can include anything from hair colour to diseases. some would include eye colour, a persons physical size and likelihood of contracting certain diseases.