Name _________________________
Section ________________________
Bill Nye Genetics Resource
Worksheet 3
Fill in the blanks below while you watch the Bill Nye Genetics resource.
1. Your body and brain are all made from a set of genetic instructions that tell ________ and __________ you
are.
2. ___________ are in every living thing on Earth.
3. ___________ are stored on extremely _________ strands of chemicals that are in almost every cell in your
body.
4. Inside your cells are bundles of chemicals made of another chemical called _________ or deoxyribonucleic
acid.
5. DNA is shaped like a spiral ___________.
Draw a picture of it.
6. DNA has all the ______________ to determine what you will be and the traits you will inherit.
7. What are found on DNA? ___________
8. What item was used to illustrate (represent) a chromosome? ____________________
What was packed inside this item? _____________________
9. What do all of these things together represent? __________________
10. _____________________ are long strands of DNA all coiled around each other.
11. A gene is a _____________ of a DNA molecule.
12. Do we have many genes or just a few? _______________
13. Genes are the set of _____________ instructions that get passed down from ______________ to
___________. In the process the genetic material is _______________ in new ways. This is why people
bear a resemblance to their _______________ and grandparents without looking like any one particular
individual.
14. All living creatures are made from ____________.
15. Genes are stored on parts of a cell called __________________.
16. _________________ contain all the genetic information, or instructions, needed to make a person.
Laurella, 2012
17. Humans have _____ pairs of chromosomes for a total of ____.
18. Chromosomes are like ____________ and genes are like the ___________ of a book.
19. Each chromosome has genes which are _______ of information.
20. Most species have fewer than _____ chromosomes.
21. How many different chemicals make up your genes? _______
22. How many different ways can these chemicals combine? _____________________
23. What are these chemicals called:
a)
b)
c)
d)
24. Are the chemicals allowed to be used as many times as they can? ___________
25. DNA is also known as a __________________.
26. Chromosome means ___________________________________.
27. Dark and light bands on a chromosome are __________ of genes.
28. Each of these bundles contains ____________________ of genes.
29. Genes are _________________ and chemicals.
30. Dominant genes are represented by a ______________ letter.
31. Recessive genes are represented by a ______________ letter.
32. How many copies of genes do we get from each parent? ______________
33. What is it called when information get jumbled up? _______________________
34. Do mutations help animals, hinder them or both? __________
Laurella, 2012