Red hair is controlled by three common alleles on one chromosome, all of which are recessive. The likelihood of having a child with red hair is this quite low. What type of inheritance is this

Red hair is controlled by three common alleles on one chromosome, all of which are recessive. The likelihood of having a child with red hair is this quite low. What type of inheritance is this?

A. Multiple

B. Mendelian

C. Hierarchal

D. Hybrid

Answer:

B. Mendelian

Explanation:

An inheritance is a biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring.

Mendelian inheritance speaks of a pattern of inheritance that follows the laws of segregation and independent assortment in that a gene is inherited from either parent is segregated into gametes at an equal frequency. Such is the rule with having red hair.

Because gene for red hair is recessive, a person needs two copies of that gene for it to find expression in the phenotype.

This implies that even if both parents carry the red hair gene, there is a likelihood that just one of their four children are likely to turn out to be a redhead.

So, red hair is a type of Mendelian inheritance.

Autosomal Recessive Inheritance

Explanation:

Our genes carry the genetic code that we inherit from our parents and determine the characteristics (for example the type of hair, colour of eyes, shape of nose, how tall or short we become etc

The gene carrying the red hair trait is a recessive gene or allele. That means that it is not a dominant gene and it displays secondary characteristics.

Hence for a child to have red hair, that child must have a pair (that is 2) of the gene (one each from the parents or ancestry) for the red hair to grow on the child.

The gene responsible for red hair is found on Chromosone 16, usually associated with the Melanocortin-1-receptor or MC1R.