The Hair Loss Encyclopedia
variant form of a gene at a specific chromosome location
An allele is a variant form of a gene that is located at a specific position, or locus, on a chromosome. Different alleles can result in different traits, such as hair color or susceptibility to certain conditions like alopecia. In diploid organisms, which include humans, each individual inherits two alleles for each gene, one from each parent, and the combination of these alleles determines specific characteristics.