Genetics: The Science

of Heredity
 Vocabulary
 1. trait

A characteristic that an organism can

pass on to its offspring through its
genes.
 2. heredity

The passing of traits from parents to

offspring.
 3. genetics

The scientific study of heredity.

 4. purebred

An organism that always produces

offspring with the same form of a trait
as the parent.
 5. gene

A segment of DNA on a chromosome

that codes for a specific trait.
 6. alleles

The different forms of a gene.

 7. dominant allele

An allele whose trait always shows up in

the organism when the allele is present.
 8. recessive allele

An allele that is masked when a

dominant allele is present.
 9. hybrid

An organism that has two different

alleles for a trait; an organism that is
heterozygous for a particular trait.
 Notes
 1. Gregor Mendel
_______________________ is
called the “father of genetics”
 2. Mendel used peas because:

– A. They
_________________________
have many traits that exist in only 2 forms

Garden peas produce large numbers of

– B. _________________________
offspring in one generation so it is easy
to collect large amounts of data to analyze
 3.
Traits are controlled by
inheritance
_________________ of
genes
_____________
 4. one
Organisms inherit ______ allele
from _________
each parent.
 5. Some alleles are
dominant
____________________and others are

recessive
__________________________.