Understanding alleles is important for figuring out how traits are passed down through generations.

What Are Alleles?

Alleles are different versions of a gene. Each gene is found at a specific spot on a chromosome. Everyone gets two alleles for each gene—one from their mom and one from their dad. This idea helps us understand how traits are inherited.

Types of Alleles

1. Dominant Alleles:

   • These alleles show their traits even if there’s just one copy.
   • For example, if the allele for brown eyes (B) is dominant over the one for blue eyes (b), a person with either BB or Bb will have brown eyes.

2. Recessive Alleles:

   • These need two copies to show their traits.
   • So, only a person with the genotype bb will have blue eyes.

Predicting Inheritance

By learning how alleles work together, we can use something called Punnett squares to guess the chances of kids getting certain traits.

For example, if two brown-eyed parents who each have one brown and one blue allele (Bb) have a child, we can set up a Punnett square:

| | B | b | |---|---|---| | B | BB | Bb | | b | Bb | bb |

From this, we can see:

• There's a 75% chance their kids will have brown eyes (BB or Bb).
• There's a 25% chance the kids will have blue eyes (bb).

Summary

Understanding alleles helps us guess what traits kids might inherit. This is really useful for studying genetics and how traits are passed down in both people and other living things!