In a heterozygous individual, the recessive trait is typically:

• A. Masked by dominant
• B. Expressed
• C. Stronger than dominant
• D. Randomly appears

Answer: (A)

When an organism is heterozygous, one allele is dominant and the other is recessive. The dominant allele determines the phenotype, so the recessive trait is masked and does not appear in the observable characteristics. This is why the heterozygote shows the dominant trait even though it carries the recessive allele. For example, in peas, round shape is dominant to wrinkled; a plant with one round allele and one wrinkled allele produces round seeds. The recessive trait would only show up if both copies were recessive. Expressions like “expressed” describe the opposite situation in this context, and saying the recessive trait is stronger or appears randomly doesn’t fit how dominance works.