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Multiple alleles are the altered forms of a gene whose number is more than two and may have as many as 300 alleles, but a diploid organism can:

Correct answer: C. Have two of them in its genome

  • A. Have one alleles in its genome
  • B. Have no alleles in its genome
  • C. Have two of them in its genome
  • D. None of these

Explanation

Option C is correct. Multiple alleles are different forms of the same gene that can exist in a population. The number of multiple alleles can vary from gene to gene, and there is no known limit to the number of multiple alleles that a gene can have. In a diploid organism, each individual will have two alleles for each gene. The two alleles can be the same or different. If the two alleles are the same, the individual is said to be homozygous for that gene. If the two alleles are different, the individual is said to be heterozygous for that gene. The multiple alleles that exist for a gene can have different effects on the phenotype of an individual. In some cases, the multiple alleles will have a dominant-recessive relationship. In this case, one allele will be dominant and will mask the effects of the other allele. In other cases, the multiple alleles will be codominant, which means that they will both be expressed in the phenotype of the individual.

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About Inheritance

Mendel's laws explain segregation, independent assortment and the prediction of genetic ratios using alleles, genotypes and phenotypes. The chapter also covers linked genes, recombination and crossing over during meiosis, then applies pedigree reasoning to X-linked recessive traits, which show different inheritance patterns in males and females.

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