click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
genetics vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Heredity | the passing of traits from parents to off-spring. |
| Trait | a characteristic that an organism can pass on to its off-spring through its genes. |
| Genetics | the scientific study of heredity. |
| Fertilization | the joining of sperm and an egg. |
| Purebred | the off-spring of many generations that have the same trait. |
| Gene | the set of information that controls a trait. |
| Alleles | the different forms of a gene. |
| Dominant allele | an allele whose trait always shows up in the organisms 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. |
| 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 organisms psychical appearance, or visible traits. |
| Genotype | an organisms genetic makeup, or alleles 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 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 | the form of RNA in which genetic information transcribed from DNA as a sequence of bases is transferred to a ribosome. |
| transfer RNA | RNA consisting of folded molecules that transport amino acids from the cytoplasm of a cell to a ribosome. |
| mutation | the action or process of mutating. |