Genetics: Heredity Vocabulary
essential vocab
- heredity: the passing of traits from parent to offspring
- genetics: the branch of biology that studies heredity
- alleles: different versions of a gene
- eg. blue v brown eye color
- homozygous: when two alleles of a particular gene are the same
- heterozygous: when the alleles of a particular gene are different
- genotype: the set of alleles an individual has
- phenotype: physical appearance of a trait
- eg: phenotype: brown eyes - genotype: BB/Bb - dominant: B
- law of segregation: the two alleles for a trait separate when gametes are formed
- law of independent assortment: the alleles of different genes separate independently of one another during meiosis
- testcross: a cross between an organism with an unknown genotype and an organism with the recessive phenotype