by Greg Green
Gene pairs
All of life is made up of a pattern of genes. This pattern is similar to the two sides the zip on your jacket. One side is from the mother, the other is from the father. Each “gene locus”, a particular space on that chain, controls one bit of information about the eventual appearance of the plant.
Each gene locus contains 2 genes, one from the mother, one from the father. A pair of letters such as BB, Bb, Pp, pp, etc generally notates these. Capital refers to dominant genes while lower case refers to recessive. B can Big bud while b can be smaller bud. This is just an example. The letters refer to a human beings imaginary reference for what a specific gene locus controls. Any letter can be assigned to it.