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csprofathogwarts t1_ix1kyhc wrote

Reply to comment by BluestOblivion in How does the body know which allele is dominant and which is recessive? by JannickL

Was the same type of thing going on with Mendel's peas?

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TheGentlemanDM t1_ix21600 wrote

More or less.

Mendel's peas are a simpler example. For Mendel's peas, the dominant traits in peas are 'active' alleles, and the recessive traits are 'inactive' alleles.

A trait for larger leaves or taller stalks (dominant) requires an active protein function to generate the growth, while the smaller leaves or stalks (recessive) merely requires nothing to happen. Purple flowers (dominant) are the result of a particular pigment, while white flowers (recessive) lack the pigment.

Having one copy of the dominant allele is enough for this protein production to occur fully, hence why the heterozygote (one of each) displays the dominant trait.

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