Inheritance terms

Question 1

Alleles

Answer 1

Different forms of a gene that produce different phenotypes

Question 2

Dominant

Answer 2

An allele that always produces a certain phenotype in an organism. It is represented by a capital letter.

Question 3

Gene

Answer 3

A sequence of DNA on a chromosome that contains coded instructions for making a specific protein

Question 4

Genotype

Answer 4

An individual’s alleles for a particular characteristic

Question 5

Heterozygous

Answer 5

Describes an individual who has inherited two different alleles of the same gene from their parents

Question 6

Homozygous

Answer 6

Describes an individual who has inherited the same allele for a gene from their parents

Question 7

Phenotype

Answer 7

The outward appearance resulting from an individual’s genotype for a particular characteristic

Question 8

Recessive

Answer 8

An allele whose effect on the phenotype can be masked by a dominant allele of the same gene. It is represented by a lower case letter.

Question 9

Polygenic

Answer 9

Characteristics that are controlled by more than one gene (same as saying continuous variation)

Question 10

Discrete variation

Answer 10

Characteristics controlled by a single gene (one copy inherited from each parent) tend to have phenotypes that fall into separate categories

Question 11

Continuous variation

Answer 11

Most characteristics are controlled by more than one gene and are described as being
polygenic.