Mendelian Genetics and Probabilities (Lecture 4) Flashcards
Mendel’s peas were highly inbred, what does this mean?
They are, therefore “bred true or true-breeding or pure bred”
e.g. when two tall plants were crossed, they only produced tall progeny
What does the flower structure of the pea plant promote?
The flower structure promoted self-fertilization
Mendel’s experiments were designed so that he could study what?
One trait at a time
What is a gene?
An inherited factor (encoded in the DNA) that helps determine a characteristic
What is an allele?
One of two or more alternative forms of a gene
What is a locus?
A specific place on a chromosome occupied by an allele
What is a genotype?
Set of alleles possessed by an individual organism
What does it mean to be heterozygote?
An individual organism possessing two different alleles at a locus
What does it mean to be homozygote?
An individual organism possessing two of the same alleles at a locus
What is a phenotype or a trait?The appearance or manifestation of a characteristic
The appearance or manifestation of a characteristic
What is a characteristic or character?
An attribute or feature possessed by an organism
In alleles, what does an upper case letter refer to?
Refers to the dominant (expressed factor) allele
In alleles, what does a lower case letter refer to?
Refers to the recessive (latent factor) allele.
Alleles can be designated after the recessive trait, give an example of this.
example: a fly with a genetic mutation causes a white eye, whereas the wild type eye is red. The alleles would be w=white eye; W=red eye.
In some cases the alleles are designated after the dominant phenotype, give an example of this.
For example, the allele R for round seeds; r for wrinkled seeds.
RR or Rr for round seeds; rr for wrinkled seeds
The allelic combination is called what?
The genotype