Life's Structure and Function
Chapter 5: Heredity


Chapter Five - PDF

In the 1860's, Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) laid the groundwork for modern genetics while in virtual seclusion from the European scientific community in an Augustinian monastery in Brno (now in the Czech Republic) He used pea plants to figure out genetics. He is called the "father of genetics". He also used probability. To best see patterns and determine probability, how many pea plants did Mendel study over a period of 8 years?
[ http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/darwin/sect5.htm ].

Vocabulary, Section 1


heredity- passing of traits from parent to offspring

alleles- different forms of a trait that a gene may have; (since there are different forms of the gene for that trait)

genetics- study of how traits are inherited through the interactions of alleles

hybrid- receive different alleles from each parent

dominant- allele that covers up; the allele known by the phenotype

recessive- allele that is covered up; allele seems to disappear

Punnett Square- tool used to predict the results in Mendelian genetics; tool to predict the probability of inheriting certain alleles

genotype- genetic makeup

phenotype- way an organism looks and behaves based on the genotype

homozygous- two of the same alleles for a trait

heterozygous- has two different alleles for a trait

LSF Chapter 5, Section 2
LSF Chapter 5, Section 3