transformation - (genetics) modification of a cell or bacterium by the uptake and incorporation of exogenous DNA

hybridisation, hybridization, hybridizing, interbreeding, crossbreeding, crossing, cross - (genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids

chromosome mapping, mapping - (genetics) the process of locating genes on a chromosome

amphidiploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having a diploid set of chromosomes from each parent

diploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having two sets of chromosomes or twice the haploid number

haploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having only one complete set of chromosomes

heteroploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having a chromosome number that is not an even multiple of the haploid chromosome number for that species

polyploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having more than twice the haploid number of chromosomes

unit character - (genetics) a character inherited on an all-or-none basis and dependent on the presence of a single gene

hereditary pattern, inheritance - (genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from the parents

gene linkage, linkage - (genetics) traits that tend to be inherited together as a consequence of an association between their genes; all of the genes of a given chromosome are linked (where one goes they all go)

cistron, gene, factor - (genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors"

XX - (genetics) normal complement of sex chromosomes in a female

XXX - (genetics) abnormal complement of three X chromosomes in a female

XXY - (genetics) abnormal complement of sex hormones in a male resulting in Klinefelter's syndrome

XY - (genetics) normal complement of sex hormones in a male

XYY - (genetics) abnormal complement of sex hormones in a male who has two Y chromosomes

sex chromosome - (genetics) a chromosome that determines the sex of an individual; "mammals normally have two sex chromosomes"

Mendel's law - (genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic research

biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms

cytogenetics - the branch of biology that studies the cellular aspects of heredity (especially the chromosomes)

genomics - the branch of genetics that studies organisms in terms of their genomes (their full DNA sequences)

proteomics - the branch of genetics that studies the full set of proteins encoded by a genome

molecular genetics - the branch of genetics concerned with the structure and activity of genetic material at the molecular level

pharmacogenetics - the branch of genetics that studies the genetically determined variations in responses to drugs in humans or laboratory organisms

recombination - (genetics) a combining of genes or characters different from what they were in the parents

chromosomal mutation, genetic mutation, mutation - (genetics) any event that changes genetic structure; any alteration in the inherited nucleic acid sequence of the genotype of an organism

inversion - (genetics) a kind of mutation in which the order of the genes in a section of a chromosome is reversed

transposition - (genetics) a kind of mutation in which a chromosomal segment is transfered to a new position on the same or another chromosome

position effect - (genetics) the effect on the expression of a gene produced by changing its location in a chromosome

expression - (genetics) the process of expressing a gene

meiosis, miosis, reduction division - (genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms; the nucleus divides into four nuclei each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants)

replication - (genetics) the process whereby DNA makes a copy of itself before cell division

segregation - (genetics) the separation of paired alleles during meiosis so that members of each pair of alleles appear in different gametes

transcription - (genetics) the organic process whereby the DNA sequence in a gene is copied into mRNA; the process whereby a base sequence of messenger RNA is synthesized on a template of complementary DNA