Are 'strong' genes actually a thing?

[managedmis]

Are some genes actually stronger than others, or is that just an expression?

Just an expression. May the expression came from dominant genes. It is a staple of any biology syllabus at GCSE.

Basically for most characteristics two versions of a gene is possible: recessive or dominant. If a person has a dominant gene then it is more likely that the trait associated with the dominant gene will be seen, for example brown eyes (dominant) versus blue eyes (recessive).

Kind of yes, kind of no- depends what you mean. Some genes are more dominant than others- you can have dominant and recessive "alleles" which code for certain phenotypes (or traits).

Each part on the DNA double helix has 2 alleles, think of them as making half of each rung of a ladder. A dominant allele (e.g. brown eyes) only needs to make up half of that ladder rung to give a person brown eyes. A recessive allele (e.g. blue eyes) needs to make up both halves of the run (e.g. the full rung) to give a person blue eyes.

Other Mumsnetters will be more knowledgeable though- I'm recalling my A-level biology course here!!

why would you ask mumsnet a question like that when google is likely to offer you much more informed responses?

Explain the context?

I’ve met two blokes named Gene in my life, one was stronger than the other so yes

Someone on another thread said it, they're surprised that their kid doesn't look like them, but instead look like another distant relative, so they said that the relative must have 'strong' genes.

Wouldn't dominant gene indicate it to be stronger or am I being too literal?

Thanks for all the explanations so far

Someone on another thread said it, they're surprised that their kid doesn't look like them, but instead look like another distant relative, so they said that the relative must have 'strong' genes.

It's kind of the opposite. Simplistically, it's possible those characteristics were weak (recessive) but have shown now they have been paired with another recessive gene from another person.

I would like to add the possibility of a child not looking like either parent due to crossing over, when the parental genes are "mixed" with one another and ends up in something different than both.

This explains it well: www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Crossing-Over

I always wonder what happened with ds1's eyes - they are grey, not pale blue like his dad's and not brown like mine. So I think he's partially inherited some element of brown but not quite enough to actually go brown. Whereas ds2 just has blue eyes, with a tiny bit of light brown (although dp has this as well, it's just harder to see). So I must have passed on a blue eyed gene (my mum and brother are both blue eyed so I must carry this gene?).

Sorry it's probably not possible to partially inherit something... either you do or you don't I guess.