Important Vocabulary Terms
Alleles: an allele is an alternative form of a gene (one member of a pair) that is located at a specific position on a specific chromosome.
Chromosome: a chromosome is a long, stringy aggregate of genes that carries hereditary information (DNA) Dominant: gene that produces the same phenotype in the organism whether or not its allele identical Gene: a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring. Genetics: the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics. Genotype: The genetic makeup of an organism as distinguished from its physical characteristics. Heterozygous: having dissimilar pairs of genes for any hereditary characteristic. |
Homozygous: having identical pairs of genes
for any given pair of hereditary characteristics. Inheritance: the process by which traits or characteristics pass from parents to offspring through the genes. Phenotype: the physical appearance of an organism as distinguished from its genetic makeup. Recessive: that one of a pair of alternative alleles whose effect is masked by the activity of the second when both are present in the same cell or organism. Traits: a distinguishing characteristic or quality. |