A | B |
P, F1, F2 Generations | parental generation, and offspring generation |
Genotype | genetic makeup of an organism |
Phenotype | physical appearance of a trait |
Dominant | trait that can mask a recessive trait |
Recessive | trait that is not commonly seen and can be masked by a dominant trait |
Co-dominance | when the heterozygous individuals express both alleles |
Incomplete dominance | when the heterozygous individuals expressed a mixture of both traits |
Law of segregation | Law that states that alleles during gamete formation |
Pedigree | chart the shows the presence of absence of a trait according to the relationships within a family across several generations |
Allele | one of a number of different forms of a gene |
Homozygous | having two identical alleles for a particular gene |
Heterozygous | having two different alleles for a particular gene |
Law of independent assortment | law that states that genes for different traits can segregate independently during gamete formation |
Nondisjunction | error in meiosis in which the homologous chromosomes fail to separate properly |
Karyotype | graph of the complete diploid set of chromosomes grouped together in pairs, arranged in order of decreasing size |
Autosome | chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes; chromosomes # 1-22 |
Sex chromosome | one of the two chromosomes that determine an individual’s sex |
Franklin | scientist that used X-ray diffraction to take photos of DNA |
Watson & Crick | scientists that are credited with discovering the structure of DNA |
Chargaff | scientist that discovered the arrangement of bonding nitrogenous bases |
Avery | scientist that worked with bacteriophage and discovered that it is the DNA that causes infection |
DNA | nucleic acid that hold our genetic information and uses deoxyribose as the backbone |
RNA | nucleic acid that uses ribose as the sugar backbone |
mRNA | (messenger) recipe that codes for proteins |
tRNA | transfer) brings amino acids to the ribosomes |
rRNA | (ribosomal) makes up ribosomes |
RNA Polymerase | enzyme that makes RNA from DNA template |
Transcription | synthesis of an RNA molecule from a DNA template |
Translation | process by which the sequence of bases of an mRNA is converted into the sequence of amino acids of a protein |
Exons | expressed sequence of DNA; codes for a protein |
Introns | sequence of DNA that is not involved in coding for a protein |
Nucleotide | monomer of a DNA or RNA |
Darwin | English naturalist that went to the Galapagos islands and constructed the theory of evolution by means of natural selection based on his research |
Natural selection | process by which organisms that are most suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully |
Artificial selection | process by which humans choose the organisms called selective breeding |
Adaptation | heritable characteristic that increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in an environment |
Homologous | structures that are similar in species of common ancestry but have a different function |
Analogous | body parts that share a common function but not a common structure |
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium | principle that states that allele frequencies in a population remain constant unless one or more factors cause those frequencies to change |
Common ancestry | explanation of how species now have many common structures derived from each other |
Vestigial organs | structure that is inherited from ancestors but has lost much or all of its original function |
Gene flow | when there is a change in allele frequency between populations |
Geographic isolation | two populations are separated by geographic barriers to form separate species |
Reproductive isolation | separation of a species or population so that they no longer interbreed |
Ecosystem | all the organisms that live in a place, together with their non-living environment |
Organism | a single living thing |
Population | group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area |
Community | assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area |
Biome | group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms |
Biomass | total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level |
Niche | role that an organism plays in their environment |
Habitat | area where an organism lives |
Producers | first level of the trophic level (usually plants) that creates energy from the sun |
Herbivores | organisms that only eat plants |
Omnivores | organisms that eat both plants and animals |
Carnivores | organisms that eat meat |
Decomposers | organism that breaks down and obtains energy from dead organic matter |
Autotroph | organisms that make their own food |
Heterotroph | organisms that need to eat food in order to get energy |
Scavengers | animal the consumes the carcasses of other animals |
Coccus | spherical shaped prokaryote |
Bacillus | rod-shaped prokaryote |
Spirillum | spiral shaped prokaryote |
Virus | particle made of proteins, nucleic acids, and sometimes lipids that can replicate only by infecting living cells |
Binary fission | type of asexual reproduction in which bacteria reproduce |
Peptidoglycan | protein found in bacterial cell walls |