What does homozygous mean?

What does homozygous mean?

• A. Having two identical alleles for a trait.
• B. Having two different alleles for a trait.
• C. Having one allele for a trait.
• D. Having two recessive alleles.

Answer: (A)

In this concept, homozygous means having two identical alleles for a trait. In diploid organisms, you inherit one allele from each parent, so you can end up with either two copies of the same allele (two dominant like AA, or two recessive like aa) or two different alleles (Aa), which is called heterozygous. The key point is that homozygous refers to the two alleles being the same, regardless of whether they are dominant or recessive. For the options given, the statement that matches this idea is “two identical alleles for a trait.”

In this concept, homozygous means having two identical alleles for a trait. In diploid organisms, you inherit one allele from each parent, so you can end up with either two copies of the same allele (two dominant like AA, or two recessive like aa) or two different alleles (Aa), which is called heterozygous. The key point is that homozygous refers to the two alleles being the same, regardless of whether they are dominant or recessive. For the options given, the statement that matches this idea is “two identical alleles for a trait.”