Chapter 11 – Heredity
Genetics Notes
Heredity- passing of traits from parents to offspring
Genetics- study of heredity
 Gregor Mendel-“Father of Genetics”
Dominant- a trait that ALWAYS shows up & it covers up the
recessive trait
 CAPITAL letters
Recessive- trait that only shows up when there is NO dominant trait
 Lowercase letters
Genotype- genetic makeup of a trait
 The letters that represent a trait
 Ex: TT, Tt, tt
Phenotype- physical appearance & behavior of an organism
 Ex: Tall, short, blonde
Hybrid- 2 different alleles
 Ex: Tt; Bb
Purebred- 2 of the same alleles
 Ex: TT; tt; BB
Heterozygous- having 2 different alleles for a trait
 A.k.a hybrids
Homozygous- having 2 identical (same) alleles
 A.k.a purebreds
Alleles- different forms of a trait
 Can be dominant or recessive
Punnett Square- tool used to predict the outcome of certain traits
& shows the way alleles combine