Biology Genetics Revision Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental genetics concepts including genes, alleles, genotypes, phenotypes, and dominant vs recessive traits based on the lecture notes.

Gene

A section of DNA that controls a characteristic, such as the eye colour gene.

Allele

A different version of a gene, for example, the brown eye allele or the blue eye allele.

Genotype

The genes or letters an organism has, such as $BB$, $Bb$, or $bb$.

Phenotype

The characteristic you can see or the physical appearance, such as brown eyes, blue eyes, or a tall plant.

Dominant allele

The stronger allele that only needs one copy to show; it is written as a capital letter (e.g., $B$) and can be thought of as the 'Boss'.

Recessive allele

An allele that needs two copies to show; it is written as a lowercase letter (e.g., $b$) and can be thought of as 'shy'.

BB

A combination of dominant + dominant alleles, which results in brown eyes in the provided example.

Bb

A combination of dominant + recessive alleles, which results in brown eyes.

bb

A combination of recessive + recessive alleles, which results in blue eyes.