1. Heredity: All About You
EQ: How do genes and chromosomes work together to determine an organism’s traits?

2. Think… Think about the members of your family.
How do you look similar to one another?
How do you look different?
Who has the same eye color?
Who has the ears that stick out when everyone else’s lie flat?

3. Have you ever wondered how people can have similar and different traits?
Why do we look different from a friend, but similar to our parents?
What makes this possible?

4. Heredity
We look similar to our parents and grandparents because of heredity.
Heredity is the process of passing characteristics and traits such as eye color, skin color, hair color, height, etc from one generation to the next.

5. Characteristic vs. Trait
A feature that has different forms in a population
Ex:
Haircolor
The different forms of a characteristic
Ex:
Brown hair

6. Genes Instructions for inherited traits are called genes.
We all receive two sets of instructions for each characteristic.
One from our mother, one from our father.

7. Chromosomes
All inherited traits are determined by genes, and genes are passed from one generation to the next.
Genes are part of chromosomes, which are structures in the nucleus of most cells.

8. Chromosomes
Chromosomes are made of protein and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Typical humans have 46 chromosomes

9. DNA
DNA is the genetic material that determines our inherited characteristics
DNA looks like a twisted ladder
It is often wound up, coiled and bundled around chromosomes.
DNA is often referred to as our “genetic blueprint”