DNA and Inheritance

• What is a gamete?

  A sex cell
• What does DNA stand for?

  Deoxyribonucleic acid
• What is DNA?

  The material inside the nucleus of cells, carrying the genetic information of a living being
• What shape is DNA?

  Two strands forming a double helix that’s a large and complex polymer
• With the exception of identical twins what is each persons DNA?

  Unique
• What does DNA determine?

  The characteristics of a living organism
• What is the cells nucleus?

  The control center of the cell.
• What is inside the cells nucleus?

  Chromosomes
• What are chromosomes?

  The structure made of DNA that codes for all the characteristics of an organism
• What do chromosomes occur in?

  Pairs
• Where are chromosomes inherited from?

  The mother and father
• What is a gene?

  A small section of DNA
• What do genes code for?

  A particular sequence of amino acids
• What do particular sequences of amino acids produce?

  Specific proteins
• What are alleles?

  Different versions of the same gene
• What is homozygous?

  When two alleles are the same
• What is heterozygous?

  When two alleles are different
• What is a genotype?

  The alleles that an organism has for a particular characteristic, usually written as letters
• What is a phenotype?

  The visible characteristics of an organism which occur as a result of genes
• What’s an example of a phenotype?

  Having blue eyes
• What is the dominant allele?

  An allele that always expresses itself whether partnered with itself or a recessive allele
• What are dominant alleles represented by?

  Capital letters
• What is a recessive allele?

  An allele that is only expressed when paired with another recessive allele.
• What are recessive alleles represented by?

  Lowercase letters
• What do homozygous alleles look like?

  AA or aa
• What do heterozygous alleles look like?

  Aa
• Whats the nature of DNA?

  Large and complex
• What do DNA molecules carry?

  The genetic code that determines the characteristics of a living organism
• What is heredity?

  Genetic information passed on from one generation to another
• What is passed on the the next generation?

  Genes
• What is the structure of chromosomes

  They are long threads of DNA made up of genes
• What is the backbone of DNA made of?

  sugar, phosphate and bases
• What are bases?

  Paired chemicals between each DNA strand
• What are the four different bases in DNA?

  Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine
• What is the A base?

  Adenine
• What is the T base?

  Thymine
• What is the C base?

  Cytosine
• What is the G base?

  Guanine
• How do you remember which bases pair?

  Apple Tree

  Car in the Garage
• What is the pairing called?

  Complementary base pairing