Physical characteristics

The passing of traits from parents to offspring (children)

Why did Mendel choose pea plants?

What characteristics do Pea Plants have that exist only in two forms?

An offspring that always produces the same form of a trait as the parent

The factors that control traits

Different forms of genes, the choices of the results that could happen when producing offspring

An allele that always causes that trait to show up in the offspring

A trait that is masked, or covered up, when the dominant allele is present

Offspring that have two DIFFERENT alleles for one trait

The likelihood (chances, mathematical ratio or percentage) that a particular trait will occur

A chart that geneticists use to show all of the possible outcomes and predict the probability of an outcome from a genetic cross.

The physical appearance or visible trait of an organism.

The genetic makeup or allele combination in an organism. These are both the visible traits and the masked traits hidden in recessive genes.

Two identical alleles for a given trait.

Example: TT for dominant tall alleles or

tt for recessive short alleles

Two different alleles for a given trait.

Example: Tt 1 dominant tall allele and

1 recessive short allele

The alleles are neither dominant nor recessive and either can be expressed in the offspring

Where do we get our Genes?

WHAT DETERMINES THE TYPE OF PROTEIN THAT WILL BE PRODUCED?

When the cell uses information from a gene on a chromosome to produce a specific protein

Copies the coded message from the DNA and carries it to the cytoplasm

Carries amino acids and adds them to the new protein as it grows

MUTATION