1. Genetics Vocabulary
Name: ________
Gene - a segment of DNA that represents the information used to make a particular protein or trait.
Trait - a characteristic feature of an organism. Such as eye color, ability to produce insulin, height, curly or straight hair.

2. Allele - a letter used to represent the
presence of a trait.
Dominant allele – a capital letter representing the major influencing gene for that trait. Example: B for the brown eye trait.
Recessive allele – a lower case letter representing the minor or non-influencing gene for that trait. Example: b for the blue eye trait.

3. Genome – the total of all genes in an organism, the blueprint of that individual.
Zygote - a fertilized egg containing 46 chromosomes.
Heterozygote – a zygote or individual having different genes / alleles for a trait. Ex. B b

4. Homozygote – a zygote or individual having the same genes / alleles for a trait.
Ex. B B or b b
genotype – the complete set of both genes for a trait. B b
phenotype – the observable trait, not taking into account all the genes. Ex. Blue eyes.

5. Punnet Square – a visual representation of inheritance of alleles.