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what is incomplete dominance

Incomplete dominance is a pattern of inheritance where neither allele completely masks the other, so a heterozygous organism shows an intermediate (blended) phenotype between the two homozygous forms.

Quick Scoop

  • In incomplete dominance, one allele is not fully dominant over the other.
  • The heterozygote (like Rr) looks different from both homozygotes (RR and rr).
  • The result is often a “blend” of traits, such as pink flowers from red × white parents.

Simple example

  • Suppose a plant has:
    • RR = red flowers
    • rr = white flowers
  • When RR is crossed with rr, all Rr offspring have pink flowers, an intermediate color.

So, if you’re wondering “what is incomplete dominance” in genetics, it is when a heterozygous genotype produces a phenotype that is in between the two homozygous phenotypes, because neither allele completely dominates the other.

In short: incomplete dominance = partial dominance with a blended- looking trait in the offspring.

TL;DR: Incomplete dominance is when one allele does not completely dominate the other, giving a mixed or intermediate trait in heterozygous individuals.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.