| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allele | one of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome. |
| Fertilization | the action or process of fertilizing an egg, female animal, or plant, involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote. |
| Gametes | a mature haploid male or female germ cell that is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote. |
| Gene | a unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring. |
| Genetics | the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics. |
| Genotype | the genetic constitution of an individual organism. |
| Heterozygous | a pair of genes where one is dominant and one is recessive |
| Homologous | having the same relation, relative position, or structure, in particular. |
| Chromosome | a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes. |
| Homozygous | a pair of matching alleles, which are the two genes that control a particular trait. |
| Hybrid | the offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, such as a mule |
| Assort | (of genes or characters) become distributed among cells or progeny. |
| Meiosis | a type of cell division that results in four daughter cells each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell, as in the production of gametes and plant spores. |
| Phenotype | the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. |
| Probability | the extent to which something is probable; the likelihood of something happening or being the case. |
| Punnett Square | a diagram that is used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment. It is named after Reginald C. Punnett, who devised the approach. |
| Zygote | a diploid cell resulting from the fusion of two haploid gametes; a fertilized ovum. |
