Term |
Definition |
Dominant trait |
Genetic factor that blocks another genetic factor |
Genetics |
Study of how traits are passed from parents to offspring |
Heredity |
Passing of traits from parents to offspring |
Hybrid |
when the two alleles are different – another name for heterozygous |
Recessive trait |
Genetic factor that is blocked by the presence of a dominant factor |
Allele |
Different form of a gene |
Codominance |
Occurs when both alleles can be observed in the offspring's phenotype |
Gene |
Section on a chromosome that has genetic information for one trait |
Genotype |
Two alleles that control the phenotype of a trait (letters) |
Heterozygous |
If the two alleles of a gene are different |
Homozygous |
When the two alleles of a gene are the same |
Incomplete dominance |
Occurs when the offspring's phenotype is a combination of the parent's phenotypes |
Phenotype |
How a trait appears or is expressed (physically look like) |
Polygenic inheritance |
Occurs when the multiple genes determine the phenotype of a trait |
Punnett Square |
Model used to predict possible genotypes and phenotypes of offspring |
DNA |
Organism's genetic material |
Mutation |
Change in the nucleotide sequence of a gene |
Nucleotide |
Molecule made of a nitrogen base, sugar, and a phosphate group that forms the basic structural unit of DNA |
Replication |
Process of copying a DNA molecule to make another DNA molecule |
RNA |
a type of nucleic acid that carries the code for making proteins from the nucleus to the cytoplasm |
Transcription |
Process of making mRNA from DNA |
Translation |
Process of making a protein from RNA |
purebred |
when alleles are the same – another term for homozygous |