Allele
MCAT glossary · Biological & Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
Definition
One of the alternative versions of a gene at a given locus.
Allele in plain English
A gene is an instruction for a trait — say, eye color. An allele is just one specific version of that instruction. Everyone has the eye-color gene, but one person carries the 'brown' allele and another carries the 'blue' allele, and both sit at the exact same address on the chromosome (that address is called a 'locus'). Like a recipe that everyone owns a copy of, but yours says 'add cinnamon' where mine says 'add nutmeg' — same recipe slot, different wording.
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