Masking the character of one gene by other gene is known as

Options

(a) epistasis
(b) atavism
(c) pseudoalleism
(d) none of these

Correct Answer:

epistasis

Explanation:

Epistasis is the phenomenon by which a gene suppresses the phenotypic expression of a non-allelic gene. In this type of interaction one gene masks or changes the effect of another gene known as epistatic gene while the one which is suppressed is termed hypostatic gene. This is a counterpart of dominance. While dominance works at interallelic but intragenic level, epistasis works at intergenic level.