If both your parents have brown eyes, you may still get blue eyes if the recessive blue-eye gene is expressed. Genes Humans' other 44 chromosomes come in pairs. In each pair, both chromosomes code for the same thing. Indeed features are coded in exactly the same place on each of the pair, called a gene locus . So there are alternative instructions for each feature.
Most features are a mixture of the two, but in some cases there can be no compromise.
So well does the genetic code work that nearly every plant and animal resembles not only its parents but even its grandparents very closely. This family resemblance is called heredity. Dominant and recessive genes With some features, one of the pair of genes must win. A recessive gene will win only if paired with a similar one. Sometimes a gene may be damaged.