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Chapter 4 Genetics
Question | Answer |
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heredity | the passing of traits from parents to offspring |
trait | a characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes |
genetics | the scientific study of heredity |
fertilization | the joining of a sperm cell and an egg cell |
purebred | the offspring of many generations that have the same traits |
gene | the set of information that controls a trait; a segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific trait |
alleles | the different forms of a gene |
dominant allele | an allele whose trait always shows up in the organism when the allele is present |
recessive allele | an allele that is masked when a dominant allele is present |
hybrid | an organism that has two different alleles for a trait; an organism that is heterozygous for a particular trait |
probability | probability – a number that describes how likely it is that an event will occur |
Punnett square | a chart that shows all the possible combinations of alleles that can result from a genetic cross |
phenotype | an organism’s physical appearance, or visible traits |
genotype | an organism’s genetic makeup, or allele combinations |
homozygous | having two identical alleles for a trait |
heterozygous | having two different alleles for a trait |
codominance | neither of two alleles of a gene is dominant or recessive |
meiosis | the process that occurs in the formation of sex cells by which the number of chromosomes is reduced by half |
messenger RNA | messenger RNA – RNA that copies the coded message from DNA in the nucleus and carries the message into the cytoplasm |
transfer RNA | RNA in the cytoplasm that carries an amino acid to the ribosome and adds it to the growing protein chain |
mutation | a change in a gene or chromosome |