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Genetics
| Vocabulary: | Definition: |
|---|---|
| Heredity | The passing of traits from parents to off-spring. |
| Trait | A characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes. |
| Genetics | The scientific study of heredity. |
| Fertilization | The joining a sperm and an egg. |
| Gene | The set of information that controls a trait; a segment of DNA on 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 | A number that describes how likely is 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 | A condition in which neither of two alleles of a gene is dominant nor recessive. |
| Meiosis | The stage of the cell cycle during which the cell's nucleus divides into two nuclei and one copy of the DNA is distributed into each daughter cell. |
| 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. |
| Purebread | The offspring of many generations that have the same traits. |