| Heredity | transmission of traits from one generation to the next |
| Genetics | study of heredity and variation |
| Asexual reproduction | single parent passes all the genes to the offspring |
| Sexual reproduction | two parents contribute genes |
| life cycle | organism has a sequence of reproductive history through one generation |
| Somatic Cell | Body cells of an organism |
| Karyotype | complete set of chromosomes |
| Homologous Chromosomes | carry genes and control traits |
| Sex Chromosomes | X and Y chromosomes |
| Autosomes | non-sex chromosomes |
| Gametes | meaning sperm and egg |
| Fertilization | sperm fuses to the egg cell |
| Trait | heritable feature of an organism |
| variation | difference in a trait |
| hybridization | crossing of two true-breeding varities |
| dominant allele | fully expressed in offspring |
| recessive allele | no noticeable effect on offspring |
| homozygous | two identical alleles for a particular trait |
| heterozygous | two different alleles for a trait |
| phenotype | organism's physical traits |
| Genotype | Organism's genetic make-up |
| Monohybrid Cross | cross with one character |
| Dihybrid Cross | Cross with two characters |
| Pleiotrophy | ability of gene to affect different traits |
| Epistasis | ability of a gene location |
| Tay-Sachs disease | allele that codes for a dysfunctional enzyme to break down lipids |
| Sickle cell disease | mutant molecule that forms rods to lower blood levels |
| Genetic recombination | production of offspring with new gene from parents |
| Recominants | new combinations of genes from parents |
| linkage map | genetic map based on recombination |
| Hemophilia | having blood with inability to clot |
| Double helix | twisted ladder with rigid rungs |
| DNA | adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine |
| ribosomes | made up of two subunits one large one small |
| P site | carries polypeptide |
| A site | carries amino acids |
| E site | Exit site |
| Mutations | alterations in the genetic material of the cell |
| Cancer | Mutations in genes inhibit cell division |
| paternity | DNA fingerprinting |
| DNA ligase | single- stranded DNA, sealed with enzymes |
| Biotechnology | process of manipulating organisms |
| Gene cloning | Process to create significant sample of segments |
| Genomics | study of organism's entire genome |
| Gene thearpy | persons genes if that person possesses problem of gene kinds |