Humans have two sets of chromosomes. Homozygous and heterozygous are terms that are used to describe allele pairs. Individuals carrying two identical alleles (RR or rr) are known as homozygous. While individual organisms bearing different alleles (Rr) are known as heterozygous.
For example, assume the gene of hair colour has two alleles, one of the allele codes for brown (R) and the other codes for black (r).
Homozygous will have the same colour alleles on homologous pairs, i.e. ‘RR’ or ‘rr’, and the heterozygous will have different alleles on homologous pair of chromosomes, i.e., Rr.
In this article, let us discuss the difference between homozygous and heterozygous.
Homozygous vs Heterozygous
| Homozygous | Heterozygous |
| It has two same copies of the same allele coding for a particular trait. | It contains two different copies of alleles coding for a particular trait. |
| Contains only one type of allele, either dominant or recessive | Contains different alleles for a trait. Both dominant and recessive |
| Self-fertilization results in the repetition of the same traits over generations | Self-fertilization results in different combination of traits over the next generations |
| Only one type of gamete is produced | Two types of gametes are produced |
| It can be either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive | Heterozygous alleles can show complete dominance, codominance or incomplete dominance |
Homozygous and heterozygous conditions help in determining dominant and recessive traits and the inheritance pattern of genes.
Also Read- Difference Between Phenotype and Genotype
Learn more in detail about Homozygous and Heterozygous, their differences, similarities and other related topics at BYJU’S Biology
Related Links:
| Difference Between Gene and Allele | Difference Between Nucleotide and Nucleoside |
| Difference Between RNA and DNA | Difference Between Gene and RNA |
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