Skipped generation (resemblance)

📖 Full definition

When a phenotypic trait disappears in parents but reappears in the child, it is generally due to a recessive gene transmitted by grandparents. Statistically, this phenomenon affects 25% of children when both parents are heterozygous carriers of the same recessive gene. This is why a child can strikingly resemble a grandparent they never knew.

💡 Concrete example

Your paternal grandparents have red hair. Your father has brown hair (heterozygous Bb). Your mother too (Bb). You have a 25% chance to be born red-haired (bb), like your grandfather.

🔄 Synonyms

generation skip · atavism

🔗 See also

• Phenotype →
• Genotype →