Answer:
Because natural selection selects for it. Thus it persists.
Explanation:
You have to understand heterozygote advantage. Basically, it's where heterozygotes have an advantage over homozygotes. In the case of sickle cell disease, heterozygotes have an advantage, and natural selection favors whatever is advantageous. Thus, because heterozygotes each have one recessive sickle-cell allele, as natural selection favors the heterozygotes, the recessive sickle-cell allele persists and remains in the gene pool.
Genes are segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that contain the code for a specific protein that functions in one or more types of cells in the body. Chromosomes are structures within cells that contain a person's genes. Genes are contained in chromosomes, which are in the cell nucleus.
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