Heredity Flashcards
Heredity
the passing of traits from parent to offspring (child)
Genetics
The study of heredity
Gregor Mendel
discovered patterns of inheritance
DNA
genetic material of an organism which is the blueprint that controls traits.
Cell
basic unit of life
Nucleus
Control center of a cell that contains genetic material
chromosome
organized strands of DNA
gene
a section of DNA that contains certain traits
allele
various forms of the same gene, represented by letters
Homozygous or Purebred
alleles that have the same form of a gene (alleles in the genotype are identical ex. AA or bb)
Heterozygous or Hybrid
Alleles that have two different forms of the same gene (alleles in the genotype are NOT identical ex. Hh)
Phenotype
An organism’s phenotype is the actual characteristics that can be observed. (physical appearance)
Genotype
The actual genes an organism has. It is represented by 2 letters (alleles). Your genotype is not always obvious from your phenotype.
Dominant allele
is expressed in the phenotype even if only one copy is present in the genotype. Dominant alleles are represented by capital letters.
Recessive allele
is expressed in the phenotype only when 2 copies are present. Recessive alleles are represented by lowercase letters.
