Heredity  The study of the passing on of traits from parents to kids.  Learn how and why physical and behavioral characteristics are passed on to from parents to offspring.

Trait  A person’s behavioral and physical characteristics.  Example: brown hair, blue eyes, etc.  Can also be behavioral such as personality.

Gene  A specific trait.  Example: hair color is a trait whereas a gene is the specific color such as brown.  Trait = Hair Color / Gene = Brown, Blonde, Red  Trait = Height / Gene = Tall or Short  Trait = Personality / Gene = Outgoing, Quiet

Offspring  A child in relation to its parents.

Phenotype  A person’s physical characteristics.  Example: Tall or short, Blonde or brunette, etc. Gg =

Genotype  An organisms genetic code represented by letters.  Example: AA, Aa or aa Gg GG

Allele  The different forms of a trait that a gene might have.  Example: GG or Gg

Dominant  A trait that covers up another trait.  Example: An uppercase “A”.

Recessive  A trait that gets covered up by an dominant trait.  Example: An lower case “a”.

Homozygous  Having two identical alleles for a trait.  Example: AA or aa

Heterozygous  Having two different alleles for a trait.  Example: Aa

Purebred  Both alleles are the same. The same genetic code is passed on by both parents.  Example: AA

Hybrid  The two alleles for a trait are different. The genetic code that is passed on by each parent is different.  Example: Aa

Chromosome  A threadlike strand that contains DNA and is found in the nucleus 0f each cell. Humans have 23 unique chromosomes.  Example:

DNA  Found in the chromosomes and transmits genetic information.  Example: