Genetics Part 1

You have your genes to thank – or blame for how you look Genes are your body's instruction manual. They affect the way you look, your health, and the way your body works.

Heredity is the passing on of characteristics from one generation to the next. It is the reason why offspring look like their parents. The study of heredity is called genetics and scientists that study heredity are called geneticists.

Genes and Inheritance Your genes are unique – unless you have an identical twin.

Genes and Inheritance Half of your genes are from your mother the other half are from your father, who, in turn, received their genes from their parents, and so on, right back to your earliest ancestors

DOMINANT & RECESSIVE Certain genes are dominant, and you only need one of the pair to give you its trait. Dominant genes are represented as capital letters and recessive genes as lower-case letters.

Some Human Traits

6 Fingers and Toes Are Dominant

Alleles Are all the possible genes for a trait

The Gene Locus Is the location of a gene on the on the chromosome

Genotype vs Phenotype Genotype Is the actual genes that an individual has for a trait Phenotype the physical expression of the genes

Let’s check your understanding with……….

A Game of X’s and O’s

Scoreboard X O Click Here if X Wins Click Here if O Wins

1 What structure on chromosomes carry the instructions for a trait?

1 Genes Home

2 What is the passing of characteristics from one generation to the next?

2 Heredity

3 What is the study of heredity?

3 Genetics

4 True or False: You get all of your genes from your mother.

4 False

5 You must have two of these genes in order for it to be expressed.

5 Recessive

6 All the possible genes for a trait

6 Allele

7 The location of a gene on a chromosome

7 Locus

8 True or False: The color purple is an example of genotype

8 False

9 True or False: Dominant genes are represented by capital letters

9 True

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