On the basis of the law of dominance, the dominant trait will always be expressed whenever it is present. The expression of the recessive trait is masked in the presence of the dominant trait. According to Mendel's law of independent assortment, during the inheritance of two or more characters, the assortment of individual traits takes place independently during gamete formation. Thus each allele of a pair segregates independently and each gamete formed contains one allele of that trait. This law is inapplicable for linked genes.