Term | Definition |
Genetics | Scientific study of heredity |
Fertilization | Process in sexual reproduction in which male and female reproductive cells join to form a new cell |
Trait | specific characteristic of an individual |
True-Breading | having two identical alleles for a particular gene |
Hybrid | offspring of crosses between parents with different traits |
Segregation | separation of alleles during gamete formation |
Independent Assortment | One of Mendel's principles that states that genes for different traits can segregate independently during the formation of gamates |
Gameters | sex cells |
Homozygous | same as true breading |
Heterozygous | same as hybrid |
Phenotype | Physical characteristics of an organism |
Genotype | genetic makeup of an organism |
Dominant | Is the trait that is most likely to show up |
Recessive | This hides behind the dominant trait |
Allele | One of a number of different forms of a gene |
Incomplete Dominance | situation in which one allele is not completely dominant over another allele |
Punnet Square | diagram that can be used to predict the genotype and phenotype combinations of a genetic cross |
Multiple Allele Trait | a gene that has more than two alleles |
Polygenic Trait | trait controlled by two or more genes |
X-linked Trait | Gene located on a a sex chromosome |
Carrier | You have the gene for the disease but don't have it |
Autosome | chromosome that is not a sex chromosome: also called autosomal chromosome |