Question: heredity

Answer: the passing of genetic traits from parent to offspring.

Question: dominant allele

Answer: An allele whose trait always shows up in the organism when the allele is present.

Question: recessive allele

Answer: An allele whose trait only shows up when no dominant allele is present.

Question: gene

Answer: one set of instructions for an inherited trait

Question: allele

Answer: one of the alternative forms of a gene that governs a characteristic, such as hair color

Question: phenotype

Answer: an organism’s appearance or other detectable characteristic

Question: genotype

Answer: genetic makeup

Question: probability

Answer: the chances of something happening

Question: homozygous

Answer: having two of the same genes for the trait (sometimes called purebred).

Question: heterozygous

Answer: having two different genes for a trait (sometimes called hybrid).