What does the term heterozygous dominant signify?

The term heterozygous dominant refers to a genetic condition where an individual possesses two different alleles for a particular gene, specifically one dominant allele and one recessive allele. In this scenario, the dominant allele will express its trait over the recessive allele, resulting in the dominant trait being phenotypically observed.

For example, if a gene for flower color has a dominant allele (let's say "R" for red flowers) and a recessive allele (let's say "r" for white flowers), an individual that is heterozygous dominant would have the genotype "Rr." In this case, the trait exhibited by the plant would be red flowers, due to the influence of the dominant allele.

The other choices describe different genetic scenarios. Identical alleles would indicate a homozygous condition, whether homozygous dominant (two dominant alleles) or homozygous recessive (two recessive alleles). Two different alleles alone do not clarify the relationship between them. The presence of only recessive alleles does not pertain to the concept of heterozygosity either. Thus, the most accurate representation of the term heterozygous dominant is indeed the presence of one dominant and one recessive allele,