Medical Science, Chapter 11: The Basic Principles of Heredity

genotype (p. 239)

genetic makeup of an organism; alleles are inherited from parents and are represented by letters

phenotype (p. 239)

physical appearance of the organism

homozygous (p. 243)

when both alleles of a pair are alike; could be dominant or recessive (HH or hh)

heterozygous (p. 243)

when two alleles of a pair are different; one capital and one lowercase (Hh)

probability

likelihood of a specific event occurring

monohybrid cross (p. 242)

cross between individuals with one pair of traits

punnett square (p. 243)

aids in predicting probability of certain traits being inherited

complete dominance

dominant trait masks the recessive allele; heterozygous and homozygous dominant alleles show the same phenotype

incomplete dominance

when the heterozygous offspring shows an intermediate phenotype compared to the phenotype of the parents

dihybrid cross (p. 245)

cross between individuals with two pairs of contrasting traits

heredity (p. 237)

transmission of genetic information from parent to offspring, generally follows predictable patterns in organisms

genetics (p. 237)

science of heredity; studies genetic variations and similarities

genes (p. 240)

units of heredity that affect an organism’s traits

gene (p. 240)

DNA sequence that contains the information to make an RNA or protein product with a specific function

principle of segregation (p. 241)

before sexual reproduction occurs, the two alleles carried by an individual parent must become separated/segregated

locus (p. 242)

the location of a particular gene on the chromosome

test cross (p. 244)

an experimental cross in which an individual of unknown genotype is crossed with a recessive individual

Mendel's principle of independent assortment (p. 245)

states that members of any gene pair segregate from one another independently of the members of the other gene pairs

genetic recombination (p. 246)

the process of assorting and passing alleles to offspring in new combinations that are different from those in the parents

chromosome theory of inheritance (p. 247)

inheritance can be explained by assuming that genes are linearly arranged in specific locations along the chromosomes

product rule (p. 247)

predicts the combined probabilities of independent events

sum rule (p. 247)

predicts combined probabilities of mutually exclusive events

linkage (p. 249)

tendency for a group of genes on the same chromosome to be inherited together in successive generations