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What Are Alleles

Our genes are located in the nucleus of the cell, where they are packed into chromosomes. Chromosomes can be divided into conditional areas, like on a map, these areas are called loci.

In our body, chromosomes are in pairs, one from the mother and one from the father. During fertilization, they can exchange genetic material, resulting in a unique organism.

Since the chromosomes are paired (called homologous), the genes are also represented in two versions. These are called alleles, that is, different forms of the same gene located at identical loci.

These genes can be the same or different. In this case, the organism is called homozygous and heterozygous, respectively.

Take the eye color gene. There may be an allele of brown eyes and, along with it, a allele of blue eyes. In this case, the color of a person's eyes will not be random. The fact is that there are dominant alleles and recessive alleles. The brown-eye gene is dominant, as if it will displace the other allele, and as a result the child will have brown eyes.

If both alleles are the same, then there is not much to choose from and the color of the eyes will be blue.