Genetic Inheritance Study Guide

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from Chapters 12 and 13 on genetic inheritance.

Mendel's Laws

The three laws proposed by Gregor Mendel that describe the inheritance of traits: Law of Segregation, Law of Independent Assortment, and Law of Dominance.

Homozygous

An organism with two identical alleles for a trait.

Heterozygous

An organism with two different alleles for a trait.

Dominant

An allele that masks the effect of a recessive allele in the phenotype.

Recessive

An allele that is masked by a dominant allele in the phenotype.

Genotype

The genetic makeup of an organism.

Phenotype

The observable physical traits of an organism.

Autosome

Chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes.

Sex chromosome

A chromosome involved in determining the sex of an organism.

Co-dominance

A situation in which both alleles in a heterozygote are fully expressed.

Incomplete dominance

A situation where the phenotype of a heterozygote is intermediate between the phenotypes of the two homozygotes.

Punnett Square

A diagram used to predict the outcome of a genetic cross.

Blood phenotypes

The observable blood types A, B, AB, or O determined by the presence of specific antigens.

Aneuploidy

A condition in which an organism has an abnormal number of chromosomes.

Nondisjunction

The failure of homologous chromosomes or sister chromatids to separate properly during cell division.

Monosomy

A chromosomal abnormality where one chromosome is absent from the pair.

Trisomy

A chromosomal abnormality where an extra chromosome is present in addition to the normal pair.

Sex-linked traits

Traits that are determined by genes located on sex chromosomes.

Carrier

An individual who has one copy of a recessive allele for a genetic trait but does not exhibit the trait.

Down syndrome

A genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21.

Klinefelter syndrome

A genetic condition in males characterized by an extra X chromosome.

Turner syndrome

A genetic condition in females caused by the absence of one X chromosome.

Triple XXX syndrome

A genetic condition in females characterized by an extra X chromosome.

XYY syndrome

A genetic condition in males characterized by an extra Y chromosome.