14. Explain why women, and not men, can be carriers for the disease hemophilia. Why do the sons of
carrier women get the disease, but not their daughters?

Women are carriers for the disease hemophilia because hemophilia is an X-linked disease. The recessive allele for the disease is found on the X chromosome.

The sons of carrier women get hemophilia because males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. The sons of a carrier woman may inherit the affected X chromosome from their mother, and a Y chromosome from their father. They have only one X chromosome and one it's affected, will result in hemophilia.

Explanation: Women are carriers because in most cases, only one of their two X chromosomes are affected. The two female X chromosome is rarely affected.

Daughters of carrier women will not get the disease because they need two affected X chromosomes to manifest the disease. So even if they inherit one affected X chromosome from their mother, the second X chromosome they will inherit from their father will be normal. Therefore, daughters of carrier women can only be carriers.