Name: _________________________________
Mrs. Champion
Acquired vs Inherited Traits Notes
Date: ____________
Life Science
Period: 1B 4B 5B 1G 4G 5G
Organisms are described by their _______________________, or traits. Traits can
include _____________, ______________, and ______________. Some traits are inherited,
and some are acquired as the result of _________________________ influences. It is this
_____________________ of all an organism’s ______________ that makes it
_________________.
________________ traits are controlled by ____________. A gene is a specific
_________________ of a ____________________ which contains the segment of
______________ that carries ___________________ to pass along a ______________ from
parent to offspring. Offspring receive __________ of their genes from one
__________________ and half from the other parent. Many ___________________ traits have
at least __________ different ____________ or variations. These different forms are known as
_________________. One ______________ may mask or ____________ another allele of that
same trait. We say this trait is dominant over the other. For example, a person’s eyes may be
brown or blue – these are two variations of eye color. A baby that receives a gene for brown eyes
from one parent and a gene for blue eyes from the other parent will have brown eyes because the
gene for brown eyes is dominant over the gene for blue eyes. The __________________ which is
_______________ (blue eyes) is said to be recessive.
________________ which are controlled by _____________ alone are called
_________________ traits. Other traits are totally ____________________ by the
____________________ and are called ___________________ traits. Some human traits are
not simply controlled by the person’s genes, but instead they are the result of interactions of genes
with the environment. For example, a person with naturally straight hair may have a perm to create
curly hair. A person who inherits genes for tallness may not grow to be tall because of disease or
poor diet.