Summary:
- The inheritance of characteristics is not always as simple as it is for the characteristics that Mendel studied in pea plants.
- Each characteristic Mendel investigated was controlled by one gene that had two possible alleles, one of which was completely dominant to the other.
- This resulted in just two possible phenotypes for each characteristic.
- Many genes have multiple (more than two) alleles.
- Skin color and adult height are examples of polygenic characteristics in humans.
- Do you have any idea how many phenotypes each characteristic in humans has?