Answer:
In genetics, when we refer to a characteristic as dominant, it means that the trait associated with that characteristic will be expressed in an organism even if only one allele (variant of a gene) is present. In the case of red and white flower color, if red is considered dominant, an organism only needs one allele for red flower color (let's denote it as "R") to have red flowers.
White, on the other hand, would be considered recessive in this scenario. For an organism to have white flowers, it would need two recessive alleles (denoted as "rr"), one inherited from each parent. If an organism inherits at least one dominant allele (either "Rr" or "RR"), it will have red flowers because the dominant allele masks the expression of the recessive allele.
So, red is called dominant because its trait (red flower color) is expressed when present with at least one dominant allele, whereas white is recessive because its trait (white flower color) is only expressed when two recessive alleles are present.
Explanation:
In genetics, the term "dominant" is used to describe a trait that is expressed in the phenotype (observable characteristics) even when only one copy of the gene responsible for that trait is present.
Alleles and Genes: Traits are determined by genes, which come in different versions called alleles. For example, there might be an allele for red flowers (R) and an allele for white flowers (r).
Dominance: If the red flower allele (R) is dominant, it means that a plant only needs one copy of this allele to display red flowers. On the other hand, the white flower allele (r) is recessive, which means a plant needs two copies of this allele (rr) to display white flowers.
