Answer to Question #60180 in Genetics for Sanjukta Ghosh

Question

What are silent carrier traits?

Answer 1

Silent carrier trait is the term used to heterozygous persons who do not show symptoms of the disease caused by recessive trait, and non-specific medical analyses cannot show the difference. For example, in silent carriers of alpha-thalassemia allele, the hematological analysis does not show difference between the carrier and homozygous dominant person.