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

  • eg. BB/bb

• heterozygous: when the alleles of a particular gene are different

  • eg. Bb

• 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