Genotype/Phenotype

Characteristic

A feature that has different forms in a population

Trait

A genetically determined characteristic

Homozygous

A trait formed from either 2 dominant alleles or 2 recessive alleles

Heterozygous

A trait that is formed from a recessive and dominant allele

Recessive

A trait that reappears in the second generation after disappearing in the first generation when parents with different traits are bred

Law of Independent Assortment

Alleles of different genes assort independently of one another during gamete formation; also known as "Inheritance Law"

Phenotype

An organism's appearance or other detectable characteristic

Gregor Mendel

Austrian Monk who studied pea plants and discovered the principles of heredity

Law of Dominance

In a cross of parents that are pure for different traits, only one form of the trait will appear in the next generation, that is the dominance trait

Allele

One of the alternative forms of a gene that govern for a certain characteristic

Gene

One set of instructions on a strand of DNA for an inherited trait

Genotype

The combination of genes for one or more specific traits

Heredity

The passing of genetic traits from parent to offspring

Sickle cell anemia

The recessive genetic disorder that can affect red blood cells

Dominant

The trait observed in the first generation when parents that have different traits are bred

Punnett square

Used to organize all the possible combinations of offspring from particular parents

Law of Segregation

When any individual produces sex cells, gametes, the copies of a gene seperate, so that each sex cell, gamete, receives only one copy. A gamete will receive one allele or the other.

Incomplete dominance

When two traits are not completely dominant over one another