Question

Sex linked characters are always

• A. Lethal
• B. Recessive
• C. Dominant
• D. Pleiotropic

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Recessive

Genes that cause premature death of the organism are known as lethal genes. The sex-linked dominant lethal genes cause death of both heterozygous and dominant individuals while the recessive will cause death of homozygotes; therefore they are not passed to the next generation and are removed from the gene pool. Pleiotropic genes are the one that affect more than one unrelated characters simultaneously. The sex linked dominant genes affect both heterozygous and homozygous dominant phenotypes and increase their frequency in gene pool. If these genes are harmful, more individuals will be at risk as compared to the condition when the sex linked genes are recessive. This is because the recessive gene affects only homozygous recessive individual and remain unnoticed in gene pool in heterozygous individuals. Thus, sex linked characters are always recessive.

Thus, the correct answer is option B.