>>11994933The answer is both and more. The child can inherit his mothers large nose or his fathers small nose. Or they can inherit their grandfathers hooked nose that skipped a generation. When sexual (haploid) cells (eggs/sperm) are created through meiosis, they inherit half of the parent (diploid) cells chromosomes. This could include nose DNA that was not expressed in the parent. During fertilization, the egg and sperm line up their haploid chromosomes to double them up into typical diploid "X shaped" chromosomes. At this point, the genetic elements of each half chromosomes get shuffled, like a deck of cards cut in half and riffled.
As the child grows, the genes can be expressed in different ways. Genes can be activated and suppressed in order to create new possibilities for the individual i.e. the child inherits the mothers nose growth gene, and the gene is activated from the ages of 6-12, whereas the mother only had the gene activated from age 6-8. This results in the child having a much larger nose, even with the same genes.
Statistically speaking, children of parents with "
extreme traits will have more nuanced traits due to regression to the mean. Tall parents will indeed have tall children, but their children will more often be less tall than the parents. You have to have good genes and good "luck" to be tall. If you inherit the tall genes, and have average luck, you will be taller than average. Your tall parents have tall genes and were by chance extra tall.
