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Genetics & Biotechnology vocabulary · Inheritance and Population Genetics

Recessive

Meaning in genetics & biotechnology, with examples

/rɪˈsesɪv/adjectiveCore term

In genetics & biotechnology, recessive means: Describes an allele whose effect only appears when a person has two copies of it, one from each parent.

In Turkish: çekinik, resesif

How it is used

Used in inheritance, carrier screening and genetic counseling. In autosomal recessive conditions such as cystic fibrosis or beta thalassemia, two carrier parents have a 25% chance of an affected child in each pregnancy. These conditions are more common when the parents are related.

Example sentences

  1. Beta thalassemia is a recessive condition, so both parents must be carriers.

  2. Recessive disorders are more frequent in families where the parents are cousins.

Common collocations

  • autosomal recessive
  • recessive allele
  • recessive disorder
  • recessive trait
  • dominantDescribes an allele that shows its effect even when only one copy is present, so it hides the effect of the other allele.
  • carrierA person who has one copy of a recessive disease-causing variant, usually without symptoms, and who can pass the variant on to their children.
  • homozygousHaving two identical alleles of a particular gene, because the same version was inherited from both parents.
  • alleleOne of the different versions of a gene that can exist at the same position on a chromosome. You inherit one allele of each gene from each parent.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Inheritance and Population Genetics

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