Difference between ALLELE and GENE (1 Viewer)

Bokky

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Can someone tell me wat the hell the difference between alleles and genes are, every single source has a different story. One text book says this, another text book contradicts it. ..........?????
 

jessied

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An allele is an alternate form of a gene. For example tall (T) and short (t) are alternate forms of the gene for height.
 

kami

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A gene is a section of DNA coding for proteins that expresses itself as the phenotype of an organism. Alleles are alternative forms of a gene.
 

Deathby

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You know how every gene has 2 copies? For example a gene might have one copy on chromosome 21 and the other one 22. What are those 2 halves called? Is it just an allele?
 

Survivor39

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Deathby said:
You know how every gene has 2 copies? For example a gene might have one copy on chromosome 21 and the other one 22. What are those 2 halves called? Is it just an allele?
No. not every gene has 2 copies. For example, the male has only 1 copy of the sex chromosome, therefore all the genes that are on the Y chromosome are called hemizygous. And this is true for the X chromosome in males.

And I don't really get what you're trying to ask. If there is a gene on chromosome 21 and one on 22, then they are different genes. An allele is when you have different variation of the SAME gene, that is, on the SAME locus (postion).
 

lozabella

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this confused me a lil at first....but its easier if u put it like this...
a gene is the one that controls a factor...ie. a gene can code for eye colour or it can code for height...an allele is the options on that gene....like eye colour could be blue or green....height could be tall or short..
hope that helps
 

Deathby

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Sorry, I think I didn't make myself clear. What is the scientific term for each 'copy'.

In other words fill in this blank. "Every gene (except some on the X chromosome) has 2 ____"


And chromosome 22 is a copy of chromosome 21, so they aren't different genes, they're different copies of the same gene.
 

Bokky

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ohhh i get it now, so an Allele is an alternative factor on a particular gene? thanx losa that made a lot more sense, thanx guys :)
 

Survivor39

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Deathby said:
Sorry, I think I didn't make myself clear. What is the scientific term for each 'copy'.

In other words fill in this blank. "Every gene (except some on the X chromosome) has 2 ____"


And chromosome 22 is a copy of chromosome 21, so they aren't different genes, they're different copies of the same gene.
I think you're getting confused about how many copies of chromosomes are in a human somatic (body) cell. Remeber, a body cell has 46 chromosomes. This equates to 2 copies of EACH chrosomsome (2 times 23 = 46).

In reference to your example, there are 2 copies of the same genes on chromosome 21, as there are 2 chromosome 21.
Chromosome 22 is NOT a copy of chromosome 21, and they have different genes altogether.
 

Dr_Doom

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I'm just going to say this because I'm bored...

Allele: Various forms of the one gene (e.g. 'T' and 't' are the alleles for plant height)
 

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