UNIT 5: Genetics Biology I
DAYSHEET 53: Genetics Vocabulary Practice
Name _____________________________________ Date: __________
Purpose: To review basic genetics vocabulary
Task: As you read, highlight or underline the definitions of the words in bold. Answer the questions in the
margin to demonstrate your understanding of genetics vocabulary.
Identify if the following Gregor Mendel was an Austrian Monk who is known as the father of
are phenotypes or genetics. Genetics is the study of heredity, or the way that traits (our physical
genotypes: characteristics) are passed from one generation to the next. Mendel discovered the
Brown hair __________
basic principles of genetics by studying pea plants.
ATGCCG ___________ Mendel first examined the physical appearance of his pea plants, or their
phenotype (the way they look). He noticed that for every trait there seemed to be
Bb ____________
two possible versions. For example, peas could either be green or yellow; round or
wrinkled; pinched or puffed pods.
Mendel decided that these different traits must be determined by different
version of genes, which he called alleles. Mendel abbreviated these alleles using
Identify if the following
letters B, b, G, g, etc. A pair of alleles together makes up an organisms genotype
alleles are dominant or
recessive: (Bb, GG, gg, etc.)
B _______________ In one of Mendels first experiments, he mated green peas with yellow
peas. He expected the offspring to come out greenish yellow but they didnt. All
k _______________
of the offspring were green! Mendel decided that this meant the green allele was
i _______________ stronger, so he called it the dominant allele. The dominant allele will show up in
an organisms phenotype whenever it is present. We use a capital letter for the
dominant allele.
The allele the seemed to disappear Mendel called the recessive allele. This
allele gets masked (hidden) by the dominant allele. The recessive allele is weaker,
Identify if the following and will only show up in an organisms phenotype if there is no dominant allele
are genotypes are
present. We use a lowercase letter for the recessive allele.
homozygous or
heterozygous:
An organism can have two of the same allele in its genotype. This is
BB _______________ referred to as homozygous. This means they got the same version of a gene from
their mom and dad. An organism could also have two different alleles. This is
Bb _______________
referred to as heterozygous, and means that mom and dad gave him/her different
Bb _______________ versions of the gene. In this case, only the dominant allele or version will show up
in the phenotype.
Activity 1: Vocab Master!
Learning genetics is like learning a new language! Complete the Vocabulary Master with the
following genetics vocabulary words:
Phenotype
Genotype
Allele
Dominant
Recessive
Heterozygous (hybrid)
Homozygous (purebred / true breeding)
If you finish early, look back at your Cornell Notes from last class and find other new words
that you can add to your Vocabulary Master sheet for extra credit points!
Activity 2: Time to Practice!
Identify the following alleles as dominant (D) or recessive (r):
R _____ j _____ l ______ M ______ P______
Identify the following genotypes as homozygous (HO) or heterozygous (HE):
RR _____ jj ______ Ll ______ Mm _____ PP _____
Identify the following genotypes as homozygous dominant (HO D.) or homozygous recessive (HO r.)
RR _____ jj ______ hh ______ YY ______ zz ______
Identify the following genotypes as homozygous dominant (HO D.), homozygous recessive (HO r.) or
heterozygous (HE).
Gg _____ UU ______ Ii _______ oo ______ QQ _______
Homozygous genotypes are either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive. Explain why there
is no such thing as heterozygous dominant or heterozygous recessive.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Identify the following as phenotypes (P) or genotypes (G):
Blue eyes _____
DNA sequence ATCGGATA _____
Dimples _____
KK _____
Pair of alleles _____
Type A Blood _____
Write the phenotypes that would correspond to the following genotypes in the space provided
Gray fur is dominant to white fur
FF ________________________
Ff ________________________
ff _________________________
Large beak size is dominant to small beak size
BB ________________________
Bb ________________________
bb _________________________
Long antennas are recessive to short antennas
AA ________________________
Aa _________________________
aa _________________________
Write all of the possible genotypes for the following phenotypes. If no letter is specified, you can
use whatever letter you want to represent the alleles.
Free earlobes (E) is dominant to attached earlobes (e)
_____ or _____ Free earlobes
_____ attached earlobes
Curly hair (H) is dominant to straight hair (h)
______ or ____ Curly hair
______ straight hair
Summarize: Fill in the blanks with the words below.
Homozygous dominant Heterozygous Homozygous Recessive One Two
There are always _____ possible genotypes that produce the dominant phenotype. To have the
dominant phenotype, you can be either ___________________ ________________ or
_____________________. There is only _____ possible genotype that produces the recessive
phenotype. To have the recessive phenotype, you must be _________________________
__________________________.
Activity 3: Flashcards
Directions: Make flashcards of your genetics vocabulary. You should put the vocabulary word on one
side of the card, and the definition (and maybe an example) on the back of the card. When you finish,
study your flashcards using the strategies below:
1. Look at the side with the definition and see if you can name the word
2. Look at the side with the word and see if you can name the definition
3. Find a partner to quiz you!
HW53: Mutations __________ Biology I
Name: ____________________ Date: __________________
A mutation is a mistake or mess-up in the DNA. There are lots of different things that can cause
mutations and there are lots of different types of mutations. Some mutations are inheritable (can be
passed from parents to offspring) and some mutations are not inheritable (cannot be passed from
parents to offspring).
1. IDENTIFY which of the following things can cause genetic mutations by circling them:
Exposure to radiation Breaking a bone Exposure to chemicals
Eating food high in cholesterol Overdosing on drugs
2. IDENTIFY which of the following mutations are inheritable (can be passed on) by circling them:
A mutation in a body cell
A mutation in a sex cell
A nitrogen base substitution in a body cell
A nitrogen base substitution in a sperm cell
Radiation damage to a skin cell
Radiation damage to a female gamete
Random breaking in stomach cells DNA
Damage to lung cells caused by smoking
3. There are 4 main types of mutations in chromosomes. MATCH the pictures below with the type of
mutation they represent
a. Deletion when a part of a chromosome gets deleted
b. Inversion when the chromosome gets out of order
c. Duplication when a part of a chromosome gets repeated
d. Translocation when a piece of a chromosome breaks off
and attaches to another chromosome
