Bio Chap.4 Definitions Flashcards
Definition: Genetics
The study of heredity and variation of living organisms and how genetic information is passed from one generation to the next.
Definition: Somatic Cell
A plant or animal cell that forms the body of the organism; excludes reproductive cells.
Definition: Chromosome
A structure in the nucleus that contains DNA.
Definition: Sister Chromatid
One of Two chromosomes that are genetically identical and held together at the centromere.
Definition: Centromere
the region where two sister chromatids are held together in a chromosome.
Definition: Spindle Fibre
a microtubule structure that facilitates the movement of chromosomes within a cell.
Definition: Centrosome
a structure that helps to form the spindle fibres.
Definition: Genome
The complete DNA sequence of an organism.
Definition: sex chromosome
An X or Y chromosome, which determines the genetic sex of an organism.
Definition: Autosome
A chromosome that is not involved in determining the sex of an organism.
Definition: Homologous Chromosome
A chromosome that contains the same sequence of genes as another chromosome.
Definition: Gene
A part of a chromosome that governs the expression of a trait and is passed on to offspring; it has a specific DNA sequence.
Definition: Allele
A different form of the same gene.
Definition: Karyotype
A photograph of pairs of homologous chromosomes in a cell.
