Question | Answer |
What is heredity? | The passing of genetic material from parents to offspring. |
What is a gene? | Genes are passed from parents to offspring and are found in segments of DNA found in chromosomes. They give instructions for producing a certain characteristic. |
What is an allele? | One of the alternative forms (different versions) of a gene that governs a trait. |
Describe DNA's role in determining traits. | DNA is the genetic material that contains genes. Genes contain information about an organism's traits. |
What is a trait? | Different forms of an organism's characteristics. (example: eye color is a characteristic and blue, brown, or hazel are traits) |
What is a dominant allele? | An allele expressed over a recessive allele. Dominant alleles are seen. |
What is a recessive allele? | An allele that is hidden or masked by a dominant allele. Recessive alleles are seen when both alleles are recessive (homozygous). |
What is genotype? | The combination of alleles inherited from parents. example: GG, Gg, gg |
What is phenotype? | The physical appearance of an organism with respect to a trait.
example: pea pod color - green or yellow |
What is heterozygous? | When an organism has one dominant allele and one recessive allele for a characteristic. example: Gg |
What is homozygous? | When an organism has two alleles for a characteristic that are both either dominant or recessive. example: GG or gg |
Are all characteristics inherited? | No. Some traits may be acquired through learning or interacting with the environment. |
How is a dominant allele symbolized? | Capital letter. |
How is a recessive allele symbolized? | Lower case letter. |
How many versions or forms of the same gene for each characteristic does an offspring have? | 2 - one version from each parent (different versions are called alleles) |
Is asexual or sexual reproduction responsible for variety of fur color in a litter of puppies? | sexual reproduction |