| 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 |
| Amino acid | monomer of a protein |
| Redi | scientist that worked with flies to explain that spontaneous generation is false |
| Spallanzani | scientist that used an experiment with broth and microorganisms but was not accepted by his peers |
| Pasteur | scientist that performed the same experiment as Spallanzani except he used a curved neck flask |
| Oparin | scientist that explained what gases were present during our early atmosphere |
| Miller & Urey | scientists that created an apparatus to display how amino acids could be made from inorganic substances |
| Radiometric dating | method for determining the age of a sample from the amount of a radioactive isotope |
| Isotopes | a form of an element where there are more or less neutrons |
| Ozone | atmospheric layer in which ozone gas is relatively concentrated; protects life on Earth from sun’s UV rays |
| 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 |
| Inducer | particle that will bind to the repressor and begin the reaction of transcription |
| Repressor | protein that binds to the operator on the lac operon and stops RNA polymerase from attaching |
| Promoter | area on the lac operon that the RNA polymerase will bind to |
| Operator | area on the lac operon that the repressor binds to |
| Lac operon | combination of genes found in a prokaryotic cell that is regulated |
| Restriction Enzymes | enzyme that cuts DNA at a sequence of nucleotides |
| Cloning | process of creating genetically identical cells produced from a single cell |
| PCR | technique used by biologists to make many copies of a particular strange of DNA |
| Gel Electrophoresis | procedure used to separate and analyze DNA fragments |
| Recombinant DNA | DNA produced by combining DNA from different sources |
| VNTR | repeats of nonsense genes found in DNA that are heritage and unique to each individual |
| Carcinogen | substance that is believed to cause cancer |
| 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 |
