Genetics Key Concepts Quiz

Study Notes

Definitions of Key Concepts

Trait or Characteristic: Recognizable features in an organism, such as height in plants or skin color in humans.
Clone: A group of organisms sharing identical genetic traits, exemplified by a colony of bacteria.
Alleles: Gene pairs that determine alternative characteristics; represented as 'T' for tallness and 't' for dwarfness in plant crosses.
Homozygous: A genetic condition where an organism has identical alleles for a gene, indicated by 'tt' or 'TT.'
Heterozygous: A genetic condition with different alleles for a gene, exemplified by 'Tt.'
Genotype: The genetic makeup of an organism, which is not visually observable.
Phenotype: The physical expression of the genotype, visible traits resulting from genetic information.
Dominant Characters: Alleles that express themselves in the F1 generation of a genetic cross, represented by uppercase letters (e.g., 'T' for tallness).
Recessive Characters: Alleles not expressed in the presence of a dominant allele, shown in lowercase letters (e.g., 't' for dwarfness); only expressed in homozygous conditions.
F1 Generation: First filial generation from true-breeding parental cross, containing offspring with mixed traits.
F2 Generation: Second filial generation resulting from self-crossing of the F1 generation.
Punnet Square: A tool used to predict the genotypic and phenotypic outcomes of genetic crosses.
Monohybrid Cross: A genetic cross examining a single pair of contrasting traits, such as tall and dwarf plants.
Dihybrid Cross: A genetic cross involving two pairs of contrasting traits, for instance, tall red-flowered plants crossed with dwarf white-flowered plants.
Hybrid: An organism with a heterozygous genotype or differing genotypes and phenotypes, resulting from crossing different parental types.