Genetics Flashcards
Who is considered the father of genetics?
Mendel.
What did Mendel use for his genetics experiments?
Pea plants.
What were the advantages of using pea plants?
They reproduce quickly, ethics aren’t an issue, they have a variety of attributes to study, humans can control their reproduction (unlike animals), and many pea plants can grow in a small space.
What is self-pollination?
When the scientist takes pollen from a plant and uses it to fertilize the same plant on the female side (the carpel).
What is cross-pollination?
When the scientist takes the pollen from one plant and uses it to fertilize a different plant (of the same species).
What is an example of cross-pollination?
Fertilizing a white pea plant with the pollen from a purple pea plant.
What is the P generation?
The parent generation.
What is the first generation bred from the P generation called?
The F1 generation. These are hybrids of the two parents.
What is the second generation (bred from the F1 generation) called?
The F2 generation.
What does “true-breeding parents” mean?
It means that the parents’ genes are extremely similar because they were bred from parents that also had similar genes. It is an organism that always passes down certain phenotypic traits to its offspring of many generations, and is homozygous for that trait.
What are the possible combinations from crossing a purple pea plant (FF) with a white pea plant (ff)?
100% Ff. Heterozygous, and the plants would be purple because purple is the dominant gene.
Define allele.
Alternate versions of a gene.
Define genotype and give the three kinds of genotype.
Genotype refers to your genetic makeup, or your combination of chromosomes. The three kinds are homozygous recessive (rr), homozygous dominant (RR), and heterozygous (Rr).
If one parent’s eye color is represented by FF and the other parent is Ff, what could the child inherit from each parent?
The child will get one from each parent, so from the 1st one they only have one option: F. From the second, they could inherit F or f, but either way, the dominant gene will show up.
Define phenotype.
The genetic traits/genes that are actually physically expressed by the offspring.
What is a Punnett square?
A square diagram made of four smaller squares that can be used to find the possible genotypes for an organism.
What is a phenotypic ratio?
How many organisms out of four offspring (or the likelihood) will show each trait.
What is a genotypic ratio?
How many organisms out of four offspring will be heterozygous, homozygous recessive, or homozygous dominant.
How do you write phenotypic and genotypic ratios?
As percentages, or as regular ratios (ex: 3 heterozygous: 1 homozygous dominant.)
What are the possible outcomes, along with the genotypic and phenotypic ratios, of crossing Gg with gg? (The dominant gene represents brown eyes, and the nondominant gene represents blue eyes.)
Gg, Gg, gg, gg. 0% homozygous dominant, 50% heterozygous, 50% homozygous recessive (or 0:2:2) for genotype; 50% brown eyes, 50% blue eyes (or 2:2).
How do you know if an organism has the heterozygous or homozygous form of a gene?
Look at the parents by performing a testcross.
What is a testcross?
Crossing the dominant phenotype with the recessive and observing the offspring.
What is complete dominance?
One allele prevents the expression of another.
What does “expression” mean in genetics?
The gene that shows up.
If you cross a red snapdragon (CrCr) with a white snapdragon (CwCw), what do you get? (Genotype and phenotype)
100% heterozygous, 100% pink.
What is intermediate expression?
The phenotype when you get a mixture of the two genes and neither is dominant.
What is incomplete dominance?
It is the genotype that results when neither allele is dominant.
What is codominance?
When both alleles are expressed in the phenotype, such as type AB blood.
What is a monohybrid cross?
Crossing two versions of the same gene, one from each parent, such as crossing Rr and rr for tongue rolling.
What is a dihybrid cross?
Crossing two different traits from each parent, such as crossing CCRr and Ccrr for hair color and tongue rolling.
How many boxes are needed for a dihybrid cross in a Punnett square?
16.
What is polygenic inheritance?
Two or more genes coding for a trait, like in eye color, hair color, IQ, and skin color.
What type of pattern does polygenic inheritance tend to follow?
A bell curve.
What is a pedigree?
A chart that traces the inheritance of a genetic trait within a family.
What do the squares on a pedigree represent? What about the circles?
Squares=males, circles=females
Homozygous recessive
Two nondominant genes. Ex. rr
Heterozygous
A dominant gene and a nondominant/recessive gene. Ex. Rr.
Homozygous dominant
Two dominant genes. Ex: RR.
If there are no fruit flies that are female and have white eyes, but there are male fruit flies with white eyes, white eyes are a…
Sex-linked trait.
Define sex-linked trait.
The gene for the trait is located on the sex chromosome.
Which sex chromosome usually contains the sex-linked trait’s gene?
The X chromosome.
Are males or females more likely to be affected by sex-linked traits? Why?
Males are usually affected because the Y chromosome is smaller and cannot counteract mutations. Females have XX, so they are not affected as often.
What does it mean to be a carrier (of a gene)?
It means that the organism contains the gene and can pass it on, but it is not affected by the gene.
What is hemophilia?
It is a sex-linked trait that is a recessive blood clotting disorder.