Chapter 17: Inheritance Flashcards
Define inheritance:
The transmission of genetic information from generation to generation.
Define chromosome:
is a thread-like structure of DNA made up of a string of genes that carry genetic information.
What is a gene?
a length of DNA that codes for a protein.
Define homozygous:
means having two identical alleles of a particular gene which results in pure breeding.
Define heterozygous:
means having two different alleles of a particular gene which is not pure breeding.
What is a homologous chromosome?
a pair of chromosomes that have the gene coding for the same protein, in the same position.
Define genotype:
the genetic make-up of an organism in terms of the alleles present.
Define phenotypic:
the observable features of an organism.
Define dominant:
an allele that is expressed if it is present.
Define recessive:
an allele that is only expressed when there is no dominant allele of the gene present.
What is a sex-linked characteristic?
a characteristic in which the gene responsible is located on a sex chromosome and that this makes it more common in one sex than the other.
What is co-dominance?
When both alleles involved produce the effect.
What is monohybrid inheritance?
its looking at the inheritance of a single characteristic controlled by one pair of alleles only.
What is mitosis?
nuclear division giving rise to genetically identical cells.
What is meiosis?
it’s nuclear division which gives rise to cells that are genetically different.
