Question

two brown - eyed parents have a child. the child has blue eyes. which term best describes the allele for the childs blue eyes?
o recessive
o heterozygous
o homozygous
o dominant

Explanation:

In genetics, brown - eye alleles are dominant over blue - eye alleles. For two brown - eyed parents to have a blue - eyed child, the blue - eye allele must be recessive. This is because if it were dominant, the parents (who have brown eyes) would not be able to pass on the allele without expressing it themselves. Heterozygous and homozygous describe the combination of alleles in an individual, not the nature of the allele itself. Since the blue - eye trait is masked in the parents but appears in the child, it is recessive.

Answer:

recessive