Heredity and Mendel's Laws

These flashcards cover essential concepts and definitions related to heredity and Mendel's laws from the lecture notes.

What is heredity?

Heredity is the process by which genetic information is passed from parents to offspring.

What encodes genetic information?

Genetic information is encoded in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

What is a gene?

A gene is a segment of DNA that contains the instructions for building a specific protein or set of proteins.

Define allele.

An allele is a variant form of a gene, which can result in different traits.

What is a trait in genetics?

A trait is a variation in the physical appearance of a heritable characteristic.

How many chromosomes do humans have?

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes.

What is a mutation?

A mutation is a change in the DNA sequence, which can lead to new alleles.

What is genetic recombination?

Genetic recombination is the process during meiosis where homologous chromosomes exchange genetic material.

What is gene expression?

Gene expression is the process by which information encoded in a gene is used to produce a functional product, usually a protein.

Define genome.

The genome is the complete set of an organism's DNA, including all of its genes and non-coding sequences.

What is genetic linkage?

Genetic linkage refers to the tendency of genes located close to each other on the same chromosome to be inherited together.

What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

Genotype is the genetic makeup of an organism; phenotype is the observable physical or biochemical characteristics expressed by an organism.

What are dominant alleles?

Dominant alleles express their traits even if only one copy is present.

Define recessive alleles.

Recessive alleles express their traits only if two copies are present.

What is the parental generation denoted by?

The parental generation is denoted by P0.

What does F1 and F2 stand for in genetics?

F1 is the first filial generation; F2 is the second filial generation.

What is hybridization?

Hybridization is the process of mating two individuals that differ with the goal of achieving a certain characteristic in their offspring.

Define homozygous and heterozygous.

Homozygous has two identical alleles; heterozygous has two different alleles for a given gene.

What is genetic variation?

Genetic variation is the diversity in gene frequencies within a population.

What is epigenetics?

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene function that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence.

What did Mendel use to study inheritance?

Mendel used the garden pea, Pisum sativum, to study inheritance.

What are Mendel's laws?

1. Law of segregation; 2. Law of independent assortment; 3. Law of dominance and uniformity.

What does the law of segregation state?

Every individual possesses two alleles, and only one allele is passed on to the offspring.

What is the law of independent assortment?

The inheritance of one pair of genes is independent of the inheritance of another pair.

What does the law of dominance state?

Some alleles are dominant over others for a given gene, while those that are not dominant are recessive.