trait
a characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring
heredity
a set of traits an organism receives from its parents
genetics
the study of heredity
true breeding plant
a plant that will always produce offspring with the same form of a trait when it self pollinates
cross pollination
when the pollen from one plant is used to fertilize another plant
gene
a unit that determines traits
alleles
different forms of a gene
dominant allele
the form of a gene that when present, covers up the appearance of the recessive allele
recessive allele
the form of a gene that is hidden when the dominant allele is present
phenotype
the form of a trait that an organism displays
genotype
the alleles of a gene an organism contains
Punnett square
shows all of the possible combinations of alleles from the parents
probability
the mathematical chance that an event will occur
incomplete dominance
when the phenotype of the two alleles blend
codominance
when an organism that has both alleles of a gene displays both phenotypes at the same time
polygenic traits
traits that are determined by more than one gene