| A | B |
|---|
| heredity | The passing of traits from parents to offspring. |
| trait | A characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes. |
| genetics | The scientific study of heredity. |
| fertilization | The process in which an egg cell and a sperm cell join to form a new organism. |
| gene | The set of information that controls a trait; a segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific trait. |
| alleles | The different forms of a gene. |
| dominant allele | An allele whose trait always shows up in the organism when the allele is present. |
| recessive allele | An allele that is masked when a dominant allele is present. |
| probability | A number that describes how likely it is that an event will occur. |
| Punnett square | A chart that shows all the possible combinations of alleles that can result from a genetic cross. |
| phenotype | An organism's physical appearance, or visible traits. |
| genotype | An organism's genetic make-up, or allele combinations. |
| homozygous | Having two identical alleles for a trait. |
| heterozygous | Having two different alleles for as trait. |
| meiosis | The process that occurs in the formation of sex cells (sperm and egg) by which the number of chromosomes is reduced by half. |
