When studying inheritance, it is importance to recognize five principle patterns: incomplete dominance, complete dominance, codominance, epistasis, and

pleiotropy. First, incomplete dominance is a type of inheritance in which one allele for a specific trait is not completely dominant over the other allele. This results in a blend of the phenotypes. For example, the gene for curly hair is homozygous dominant, and homozygous recessive individuals have straight hair. However, heterozygous individuals have wavy hair; a blend of the straight and curly-haired phenotype. Second, complete dominance is when one allele is completely dominant over the other allele, and there are no intermediate phenotypes. For example, brown eyes are dominant over blue and green eyes, so anyone with the homozygous dominant or heterozygous genotype will have brown eyes. Third, codominance is a condition in which both alleles of a gene pair in a heterozygote are fully expressed, with neither one being dominant or recessive to the other. For example, within the MN blood groups, there are two antigens: M and N. A person may either have M, N, or MN antigens on their blood cells. Fourth, epistasis is the interaction between the genes at two or more loci, so that the phenotype differs from what would be expected if the loci were expressed independently. The gene whose phenotype is expressed is said to be epistatic, while the phenotype altered or suppressed is said to be hypostatic. For example, the gene causing albinism would hide the gene controlling color of a person's hair or eyes. Lastly, pleiotropy occurs when one gene influences multiple phenotypic traits. Consequently, a mutation in a pleiotropic gene may have an effect on some or all traits simultaneously. A classic example of pleiotropy is the human disease PKU (phenylketonuria). This disease can cause mental retardation and reduced pigmentation in the hair and skin. These changes in multiple phenotypes are caused by a mutation in the gene that codes for the enzyme, phenylalanine hydroxylase.