Key Concepts in Genetics
1. Who is Gregor Mendel and what is his significance?
- Answer: Gregor Mendel is known as the Father of Genetics due to his pioneering work on inheritance
patterns in plants.
2. What defines a trait?
- Answer: A trait refers to a characteristic that is influenced by genes.
3. What does heterozygous mean?
- Answer: The term heterozygous indicates that an organism has two different alleles for a specific
trait.
4. What is a recessive allele?
- Answer: A recessive allele is one that can be masked or overshadowed by a dominant allele.
5. What does a lowercase letter signify in genetics?
- Answer: In genetic notation, a lowercase letter represents a recessive allele.
6. How many alleles are required for a trait to appear in an offspring?
- Answer: Two alleles must be present for a trait to be expressed in the offspring.
7. Where do alleles originate from?
- Answer: Alleles come from the parents of the organism.
8. What field of study examines the transmission of genes?
- Answer: Genetics is the field dedicated to understanding how genes are inherited from one
generation to the next.