biology eoc review – Mechanisms of Genetics

Offspring’s genes come from 1 parent

Offspring’s genes come from 2 parents via each parent’s gamete; results in greater genetic variation compared to asexual reproduction

Reproductive cell that has half the number of chromosomes as parent cell (egg is female gamete, sperm is male gamete)

Two-staged cell division process that produces gametes

Organism’s characteristic

Passing of traits from one generation to the next

Structure in cell’s nucleus that contains DNA; humans have 46 (23 pairs)

Chromosomes that determine sex

Form of a gene that controls a characteristic (letters)

Two copies of the same allele (RR or rr)

Two different alleles (Rr)

Trait that appears when at least one dominant allele is inherited; dominant allele is represented by a capital letter

Trait that appears when two recessive alleles are inherited; recessive allele is represented by a lowercase letter

Inherited combination of alleles that is represented by two letters (RR, Rr, rr)

Organism’s appearance based on its genotype

Diagram that helps predict the possible genotypes and phenotypes of offspring based on the parents’ genotypes

Laws regarding the inheritance of genetic traits

Inheritance pattern that does not follow Mendelian genetic laws

Segment of DNA; controls specific hereditary characteristics

Regulated process by which gene transcription and translation are controlled by various factors, such as hormones

Set of all genes that specify an organism’s traits

Insertion, deletion, or substitution in DNA sequence; can cause a change in mRNA

Formed from a sequence of 3 nucleotides (like AAA or GAC); different codons specify one or twenty different amino acids

Three part structure that makes up nucleic acid molecules (DNA and RNA)

Nucleic acid that uses genetic information from DNA to produce proteins