Multiple alleles

Multiple alleles

The genetic segregations in Mendelian inheritance reveal that all genes have two alternative forms – dominant and recessive alleles e.g. tall versus dwarf (T and t). The former is the normal allele or wild allele and the latter the mutant allele. A gene can mutate several times producing several alternative forms. When three or more alleles of a gene that control a particular trait occupy the same locus on the homologous chromosome of an organism, they are called multiple alleles and their inheritance is called multiple allelism.