| A | B |
|---|
| Mendel | Experimented with pea plants to see if he could find a pattern in the way characteristics are passed on from one generation to the next. |
| allele | alternate form of a gene for each trait of an organism |
| crossing over | Process by which homologous chromosomes exchange portions of their chromosomes during prophase I stage of meiosis. |
| diploid | a cell has two of each type of chromosome characteristic of the species. |
| dominant | describes a trait that covers up, or dominates, another form of the trait |
| egg | the female sex cell |
| fertilization | uniting of male and female gametes (sex cells) |
| gamete | male and female sex cells. |
| genetics | the study of heredity; having to do with what we biologically inherit from our parents |
| genetic recombination | the re-assortment of chromosomes and the genetic information they carry (either by crossing over or independent segregation of homologous chromosomes) |
| genotype | combination of genes in an organism |
| haploid | A cell with one of each kind of chromosome |
| heredity | the passage of traits from parents to an offspring |
| heterozygous | organism that has two different alleles for a single trait |
| homologous chromosome | chromosomes having genes for the same traits |
| homozygous | Having two like genes for the same trait. |
| hybrid | off-spring of parents having different forms of a trait. |
| law of independent assortment | Mendelian principle stating that genes for different traits are inherited independently of each other |
| law of segregation | Mendelian principle explaining that because each plant has two different alleles, it can produce two different types of gametes. |
| meiosis | type of cell division where one specialized body cell produces four gametes, each containing half the number of chromosomes as a parent's body cell. |
| non-disjunction | failure of homologous chromosomes to separate correctly during meiosis; results in gametes with too many or too few chromosomes. |
| phenotype | the way an organism looks and behaves. |
| pollination | Transfer of the male pollen grains to the female organ of the flower |
| recessive | An allele for a trait that will be masked in the presence of a dominant allele. |
| sexual reproduction | pattern of reproduction that involves the production and subsequent uniting of haploid sex cells. |
| sperm | male sex cell |
| trait | characteristics that are passed from parents to off-spring |
| zygote | a single cell that results from the joining of an egg cell and a sperm cell. |
