Biology · Glossary

What is The vocabulary of crosses?

Definition 4.4 University Biology — Year 2 · Chapter 4 — Meiosis, Genetic Mixing and Heredity

A gene is a stretch of chromosome; its alleles are its sequence variants; the locus is its position. A diploid individual carries two alleles at each locus: its genotype is homozygous (AAAA, aaaa) or heterozygous (AaAa). The phenotype is the observable character. An allele is dominant when the heterozygote shows its phenotype, recessive when it shows only in the homozygote; the distinction is a property of the pair of alleles and of the character observed, not of the allele alone — most recessive alleles are loss-of-function alleles, hidden because one working copy suffices. A pure line breeds true (homozygous); a test cross mates an individual of dominant phenotype with a recessive homozygote, so that its offspring reveal the alleles of its gametes directly.

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