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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 10 December 2024. Science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms This article is about the general scientific term. For the scientific journal, see Genetics (journal). For a more accessible and less technical introduction to this topic, see Introduction to genetics. For the Meghan Trainor ...
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic information of their parents.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to genetics: . Genetics – science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms. [1] [2] Genetics deals with the molecular structure and function of genes, and gene behavior in context of a cell or organism (e.g. dominance and epigenetics), patterns of inheritance from parent to offspring, and gene distribution ...
Population genetics is the branch of evolutionary biology responsible for investigating processes that cause changes in allele and genotype frequencies in populations based upon Mendelian inheritance. [3] Four different forces can influence the frequencies: natural selection, mutation, gene flow (migration), and genetic drift. A population can ...
Genetic disorders are diseases that are caused by a single allele of a gene and are inherited in families. These include Huntington's disease , cystic fibrosis or Duchenne muscular dystrophy . Cystic fibrosis, for example, is caused by mutations in a single gene called CFTR and is inherited as a recessive trait.
Molecular genetics is a branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the structure and/or function of genes in an organism's genome using genetic screens.
Genetic heterogeneity occurs through the production of single or similar phenotypes through different genetic mechanisms. There are two types of genetic heterogeneity: allelic heterogeneity, which occurs when a similar phenotype is produced by different alleles within the same gene; and locus heterogeneity, which occurs when a similar phenotype is produced by mutations at different loci.
Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. [2] The number of alleles an individual can have in a specific gene depends on the number of copies of each chromosome found in that species, also referred to as ploidy .