Genetics Notecards Flashcards
Heredity
The passing of traits from parents to offspring.
Trait
A characteristic that an organism can pass on to offspring through genes.
Genetics
The scientific study of heredity.
Purebred
An organism the always produces offspring with the same form of a trait as a parent.
Gene
A segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific trait.
Allele
A different form of a gene.
Dominant Allele
An allele whose trait always shows up in the organism when the allele is present.
Recessive Allele
An allele that is masked when a dominant allele is present.
Hybrid
A organism that has two different alleles for a trait; an organism that is heterozygous for a trait.
Probability
The likelihood that a particular event will occur.
Punnett Square
A chart that shows all of the possible combinations of alleles thw can result from a genetic cross.
Phenotype
An organism’s physical appearance, or visible traits.
Genotype
An organism’s genetic makeup, or allele combinations.
Homozygous
Having two identical alleles for a trait.
Heterozygous
Having two different alleles for a trait.
Codominance
A condition in which neither of the two alleles of a gene is dominant or recessive.
Meiosis
The process that occurs in sex cells by which the number of chromosomes is reduced by half.
Messenger RNA
RNA that copies the coded message from DNA in the nucleus and carries the message into the cytoplasm.
Transfer RNA
RNA in the cytoplasm that carries an amino acid to the ribosome and adds it to the growing protein chain.
