Life Sciences

1. Life Sciences Inherited and Learned Traits

2. Vocabulary Inherited Qualities that are transmitted from parent to offspring in the genes. Trait Another name for a characteristic. Gene Determines a particular characteristic in an organism. Dominant Most prominent, almost always appears when present. Recessive Usually only appears when dominant is not present. Genotype Gene pair for a particular trait Phenotype The observable physical characteristics of an organism, as determined by both genetic makeup and environmental influences.

3. Introduction Plants and animals closely resemble their parents. Many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents of the organism, but other characteristics result from an individual’s interactions with the environment. Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another. Heredity information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single unit of information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined by one or many genes.

4. Interactivity Go to http://www.brainpop.com/health/growthdevelopmentandgenetics/heredity/ View the movie and review the quiz. Read How to with Gary and Gary, then work on the crossword puzzle. What did you inherit? http://student.biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/heredity/worksheet_heredity.html

5. Conceptual Activity How are chromosomes and genes related? Click on picture for video review Inherited Characteristics Animation: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/basics/tour/inheritance.swf