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Gregor Mendel and the concepts of dominance and recessiveness

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Developed at a time when the basic molecular and cellular elements of inheritance were yet to be identified, the concepts of dominance and recessiveness are at the core of the connection between genotype and phenotype in diploid organisms. On the occasion of Gregor Mendel’s 200th birthday, we reflect on the history of the terms dominant and recessive, and their current use in medical genetics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Human Genetics, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Johannes Zschocke

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and Department of Medicine (Medical Genetics), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Peter H. Byers

  3. MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Andrew O. M. Wilkie

Authors
  1. Johannes Zschocke
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  2. Peter H. Byers
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  3. Andrew O. M. Wilkie
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Correspondence to Johannes Zschocke.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zschocke, J., Byers, P.H. & Wilkie, A.O.M. Gregor Mendel and the concepts of dominance and recessiveness. Nat Rev Genet 23, 387–388 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00495-4

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