| A | B |
|---|
| Somatic cell | Also called body cells, make up most of your body tissues and organs. Ex. spleen, kidneys, and eyeballs. |
| Gametes | The sex cells; ova, or eggs, in the female, and spermatozoa, or sperm cells, in the male. |
| Homologous Chromosome | This is 2 chromosomes, one inherited from the mother, one from the father. They have the same length and general appearance. |
| Autosome | The chromosome pairs 1 to 22 make up your autosome chromosomes that contain genes for characteristics not directly related to the sex of an organism. |
| Sex Chromosomes | Most sexually reproducing species also have these that directly control the development of sexual characteristics. |
| Sexual reproduction | Involves the fusion of 2 gametes that result in off-spring that are a genetic mixture of both parents. |
| Fertilization | The actual fusion of an egg and a sperm cell. |
| Diploid | Means a cell has 2 copies of each chromosome: one copy from the father and one copy of the mother. |
| Haploid | Means that a cell has only one copy of each chromosome. Each human egg or sperm cell has 22 autosomes and 1 sex chromosome. |
| Meiosis | This is a form of nuclear division that divides a diploid cell into haploid cells. This process is essential for sexual reproduction. |
| Gametogenesis | The production of gametes; this includes both meiosis and other changes that produce a mature cell. |
| Sperm | This is the male gamete; it is much smaller than the egg. |
| Egg | This is the female gamete. |
| Polar bodies | The other cells produced by meiosis become this. These are the cells with little more than DNA that are eventually broken down. |
| trait | distinguishing characteristics that are inherited |
| genetics | the study of biological inheritance patterns and variation in organisms |
| purebred | type of organism whose ancestors are genetically uniform |
| cross | mating of two organisms |
| law of segregation | mendel's first law, stating that (1) organisms inherit two copies of genes, one from each parent, and (2) organisms donate only one copy of each gene in their gametes because the genes separate during gamete formation |
