What is the Difference between heterozygous and homozygous individuals?
An organisms or individuals possessing two twin alleles are called as homozygous (for e.g rr or RR). On the other hand organisms or individuals that are possessing two non-identical or different alleles are called heterozygous (for e.g Rr ).
Let’s have a closer look at what actually the difference between heterozygous and homozygous individuals
There are two copies of each chromosome in each of the cells, so humans are considered diploid organisms.
Suppose a human is possessing two allele pairs for the hair color gene, one allele codes for black (r) and one for brown (R).
Homologous chromosomes are those chromosomes that would either posses the same alleles or different alleles. If both are same then both would be black or brown, on the other hand, if both are different then there would be one black and one brown allele.
Let’s break down in the table about What is the difference between heterozygous and homozygous individuals?
| Homozygous | Heterozygous | |
| 1, | It always produces single gamete | Always produces gametes of two types |
| 2. | It always consists of either recessive or dominant allele pairs but not both at the same time. | It consists of both recessive and dominant allele pairs. |
| 3. | It consists of two replicas of the same allele that code for a particular trait. | It consists two different replicas of the allele that code for a specific trait. |
| 4. | If there are two identical copies of each gene in the diploid organism, they may same alleles, so called homozygous. | If there are two replicas of the same gene a diploid (both recessive & dominant) organism carrying, so called heterozygous. |
| 5. | It yields identical individuals, which means it is pure for a trait and is a true breed. (e.g. RR, rr) | It yields non-identical offspring, which means it is not pure and is not a true breed. (e.g. Rr ) |
Conclusion:
From the differences mentioned above, now we can conclude that heterozygous and homozygous are two different but related terms occur in a normal organism that is considered for trait identification.
You may also enjoy reading:
- Difference between gene and allele.
- Difference between gene and chromosome.
