GENETICS VOCABULARY

TRAITS

• Distinct variant or option of a phenotypic characteristics of an organism that may be inherited.

HEREDITY

• Passing on of characteristics from parents to offspring.

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

• Reproduction which involves the fusion of male and female sex cells which produces genetic variation in offspring.

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION

• Offspring form from only one parent and it clone of that parent.

GENES

• The set of information that controls a trait; code in dna

CHROMOSOMES

• Compact structure of tightly coiled DNA within the nucleus containing the genetic information that is passed rom one generation f cells to the next.

DNA

• Deoxyribonucleic acid; hereditary material in humans.

GENOTYPE

• Combination of genes in an organism.

PHENOTYPE

• Outward appearance of an organism; regardless of genotype.

ALLELE

• Alternative forms of a gene for each variation of a trait of an organism.