| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| heredity | the passing of traits from parents to offspring |
| offspring | the new organism created through reproduction |
| trait | a characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes |
| inherit | to receive from one generation to the next |
| sexual reproduction | creating offspring using genes from two different parent organisms |
| asexual reproduction | creating offspring using genes from only one parent organism |
| purebred (homozygous) | having two identical alleles for a trait |
| hybrid (heterozygous) | having two different alleles for a trait |
| allele | the different forms of a gene |
| dominant allele | an allele whose trait always shows up in an organism when the allele is present |
| recessive allele | an allele that is masked when a dominant allele is present |
| probability | a number that describes how likely it is that an event will occur |
| genotype | an organism's genetic makeup of allele combinations |
| phenotype | an organism's physical appearance of visible traits |
| gene | the set of information that controls a trait; a segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific trait |
| sex chromosome | a pair of chromosomes carrying genes that determine whether a person is a male or female |
| carrier | a person who has one recessive allele for a trait but does not have the trait |
| selective breeding | the process of selecting a few organisms with desired traits to serve as parents of the next generation |
| genetic engineering | the transfer of a gene from the DNA of one organism into another organism in order to produce an organism with desired traits |
