Dominant

An allele is said to be dominant if it expresses its phenotype even in the presence of a recessive allele. See Allele, Phenotype, Recessive.

1. Of alleles, one whose effect with respect to a particular trait is the same in heterozygotes as in homozygotes . The opposite is recessive. 2. Of an individual animal, one that is allowed priority in access to food, mates, etc., by others of its species because of its success in previous aggressive encounters. 3. Of an animal or plant species, the most conspicuously abundant and characteristic in a particular location or environment.

A gene that almost always results in a specific physical characteristic, for example, a disease, even though the patient's genome possesses only one copy. With a dominant gene, the chance of passing on the gene (and therefore the disease) to children is 50-50 in each pregnancy. See also gene, genome

An allele that is almost always expressed, even if only one copy is present. See also: gene, genome