X-linked recessive inheritance is a mode of inheritance in which a mutation in a gene on the X chromosome causes the phenotype to be expressed (1)

in males (who are necessarily hemizygous for the gene mutation because they have only one X chromosome) and (2) in females who are homozygous for the gene mutation (i.e., they have a copy of the gene mutation on each of their two X chromosomes). X-linked inheritance means that the gene causing the trait or the disorder is located on the X chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome. Carrier females who have only one copy of the mutation do not usually express the phenotype, although differences in X chromosome inactivation can lead to varying degrees of clinical expression in carrier females since some cells will express one X alleleand some will express the other. The current estimate of sequenced X-linked genes is 499 and the total including vaguely defined traits is 983[1] Some scholars have suggested discontinuing the terms dominant and recessive when referring to Xlinked inheritance due to the multiple mechanisms that can result in the expression of X-linked traits in females, which include cell autonomous expression, skewed X-inactivation, clonal expansion, and somatic mosaicism.

A pedigree is a diagram of family relationships that uses symbols to represent people and lines to represent genetic relationships. These diagrams make it easier to visualize relationships within families, particularly large extended families. Pedigrees are often used to determine the mode of inheritance (dominant, recessive, etc.) of genetic diseases. In a pedigree, squares represent males and circles represent females. Horizontal lines connecting a male and female represent mating. Vertical lines extending downward from a couple represent their children. Subsequent generations are therefore written underneath the parental generations and the oldest individuals are found at the top of the pedigree. If the purpose of a pedigree is to analyze the pattern of inheritance of a particular trait, it is customary to shade in the symbol of all individuals that possess this trait. In the pedigree above, the grandparents had two children, a son and a daughter. The son had the trait in question. One of his four children also had the trait.

Sex influenced is a trait that is more dominant in a certain sex, and it takes two recessive genes on part of the less dominant sex for it appear. Sex limited is a trait that is in both sexes but shows up in only one sex