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