What is an allele

In this video of genetics you will discover what is an allele. Alleles are the possible expressions of a gene.

To determine my hair type (curly / straight), there is a gene, which we say "encodes" the information for this characteristic. Possible alleles will be curly (R) or smooth (r). The same characteristic can be regulated by several genes, although the exercises that we are going to discover in this lesson, they almost always deal with cases in which a single gene is directly responsible for how that characteristic.

Each person has information for 2 alleles / trait, in her genome. That is why we say that the person is HOMOZYGOTE (alleles have the same info: eg curly / curly) or HETEROZYGOT (alleles have different information, eg: curly / smooth).

In the video I explain what is an allele More in detail. In addition, on the web I have left you some printable exercises with their solutions so that you can check if you have understood what was explained in today's lesson.

If you want to know what is a dominant, recessive or codominant allele, or what is an autosomal or sexual allele, you will find more videos on this website. Happy studying!