Building Blocks
This field studies heredity and variation in inherited characteristics.
Genetics
This Austrian monk used pea plants to uncover the laws of inheritance.
Gregor Mendel
Alleles separate into egg and sperm so each parent gives one copy. That is this law.
The law of segregation
This is the basic unit of heredity, a sequence of DNA.
A gene
This is the allele combination an organism carries.
The genotype
The same design run on two genes at once is this kind of cross.
A dihybrid cross
This is one alternative version of a gene.
An allele
This is the observable trait that comes from genotype and environment.
The phenotype
This grid predicts the genotypes of a genetic cross.
A Punnett square
This is a tightly coiled band of DNA.
A chromosome
This is the complete set of chromosomes for an individual.
A karyotype
Genes inherited independently of one another follow this principle.
Independent assortment
This is an individual’s whole collection of genes.
The genome
Mendel uncovered the laws of inheritance with experiments on these plants.
Pea plants
Offspring of those first offspring are this generation.
The F2 generation