Genetics

Definition

Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms. It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene.

Related concepts

Abiogenesis Acentric fragment Acetabularia Acrocentric Adaptation Adenine Adenosine triphosphate Aerobiology Agronomy Agrostology Alfred Sturtevant Alga Allele Allele frequency Amino acid Anatomy Ancient Greek Aneuploidy Animal Anthropology Apoptosis Arabidopsis thaliana Archaea Archaeogenetics Arid climate Artificial selection Asexual reproduction Astrobiology Atom Augustinians Autosome Avery–MacLeod–McCarty experiment BBC B chromosome Bacteria Bacterial conjugation Bacterial genome size Bacteriology Barbara McClintock Base pair Basic research Behavioural genetics Bibliography of biology Biochemistry Biocoenosis Biodiversity Biogeochemical cycle Biogeography Biogeology Bioinformatics Biological data Biological engineering Biological interaction Biological organisation Biological system Biology Biomass Biome Biomechanics Biophysics Biosemiotics Biosphere Biostatistics Biotechnology Blending inheritance Blood vessel Botany Breathing British Society for the History of Science Brno CENPA CENPC1 CENPC2 CENPF CENPH CENPI CENPJ CENPK CENPM CENPN CENPO CENPP CENPQ CENPT CRISPR Caenorhabditis elegans Cambridge University Press Cancer Carbohydrate Celera Genomics Cell (biology)Cell biology Cell culture Cell cycle Cell division Cell signaling Cell theory Cellular microbiology Cellular respiration Central dogma of molecular biology Centromere Centromere protein B Centromere protein E Charles Darwin Chemical biology Chemical bond Chemical element Chemical reaction Chromatid Chromatin Chromosomal crossover Chromosomal inversion Chromosomal translocation Chromosome Chromosome abnormality Chronobiology Circular bacterial chromosome Circulatory system Classical genetics Climate Climate change Cloning Coding region Codon Cognitive biology Collagen Colony (biology)Common descent Common fruit fly Common name Community (ecology)Comparative biology Complex traits Computational biology Conservation biology Conservation genetics Contact inhibition Cryobiology Cryoconservation of animal genetic resources Cytogenetics Cytosine DNA DNA damage (naturally occurring)DNA ligase DNA polymerase DNA repair DNA replication DNA sequencing Danio rerio Denaturation (biochemistry)Dendrology Deoxyribonucleic acid Deoxyribose Developmental biology Dicentric chromosome Dinokaryon Diploid Dominance (genetics)Dominance relationship Dominant allele Double helix Drosophila Drosophila melanogaster Earliest known life forms Ecological genetics Ecological niche Ecology Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Edith Rebecca Saunders Embryology Emergence Encyclopædia Britannica Endocrine system Energy Enzyme Epidemiology Epidermis (botany)Epigenetic Epigenetics Epistasis Epithelium Escherichia coli Ethology Euchromatin Eugenics Eukarya Eukaryote Evolution Evolutionary biology Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary tree Experiments on Plant Hybridization Extracellular Extrachromosomal DNA Fermentation Fitness (biology)Fleeming Jenkin Flower Frameshift mutation Francis Crick Francis Galton Frederick Griffith Frederick Sanger Freshwater biology Function (biology)Fungus Gamete Gel electrophoresis Genain quadruplets Gene Gene deletion Gene duplication Gene expression Gene flow Gene product Gene regulation Generative biology Genetic code Genetic disorder Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic engineering Genetic enhancement Genetic genealogy Genetic history of Africa Genetic history of Europe Genetic history of Italy Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas Genetic history of the British Isles Genetic history of the Middle East Genetic hitchhiking Genetic linkage Genetic material Genetic monitoring Genetic variation Genetically modified organism Geneticist Genetics (journal)Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia Genetics in fiction Genome Genome assembly Genome editing Genome project Genomics Genotype Geobiology George M. Church Gerontology Glossary of genetics Glossary of genetics (M−Z)Gregor Mendel Griffith's experiment Ground tissue Growth factor Guanine Habitat Haploid He Jiankui genome editing incident Health care Helix Hemoglobin Heredity Heritability Herpetology Hershey–Chase experiment Heterochromatin Heterozygous Histology Histone Histone H1 Histone H2A Histone H2B Histone H3 Histone H4 History of biology History of genetics History of life Holocentric chromosome Homeostasis Homologous chromosome Homologous chromosomes Homology (biology)Homozygous Horace Freeland Judson Horizontal gene transfer Hugo de Vries Human Genome Project Human biology Human digestive system Human embryos Human evolution Human genome Human mitochondrial genetics Human skin color Hungary Hydrogen bonding Ichthyology Immune system Immunogenetics Immunology Imre Festetics In Our Time (radio series)Independent assortment Index of biology articles Index of genetics articles Inheritance of acquired characteristics Internal environment International System for Human Cytogenomic Nomenclature Intracellular Introduction to evolution Introduction to genetics Isochromosome James Watson Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Joachim Hämmerling Kary Banks Mullis Karyotype Lampbrush chromosome Leaf Life Linear chromosome Lipid Lipidology List of biology journals List of genetic codes List of genetics research organizations List of organisms by chromosome count List of sequenced eukaryotic genomes Locus (genetics)London Macroevolution Mammalogy Marine biology Mathematical and theoretical biology Matter Maurice Wilkins Mealworm Mechanical philosophy Medical genetics Meiosis Mendelian inheritance Messenger RNA Metabolism Metastasis MicroRNA Microbial genetics Microbiology Microbiome Microchromosome Microevolution Missing heritability problem Mitosis Model organism Molecular biology Molecular clock Molecular cloning Molecular evolution Molecular genetics Molecular structure Molecular tools for gene study Molecule Monocentric Monomer Moravia Morphogenesis Multicellular organism Multiple birth Muriel Wheldale Onslow Mus musculus Muscular system Mutagenic Mutation Mycology Natural selection Nature Reviews Methods Primers Nature and nurture Nature versus nurture Nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution Negative feedback Neontology Nervous system Neuroepigenetics Neuroscience Neutral theory of molecular evolution Next-generation sequencing Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Non-coding RNA Nora Darwin Barlow Nuclear organization Nucleic acid Nucleoid Nucleosome Nucleotide Nutritional science Omphalodes verna On the Origin of Species Oncogene Organ (biology)Organelle Organic compound Organism Origin and function of meiosis Ornithology Orthologous gene Osteology Outline of biology Outline of genetics Ovum Oxford English Dictionary P53 protein PH Paleogenetics Paleontology Paleopolyploidy Pangenesis Paramutation Parasitology Pathology Pea Pedigree chart Peer review Personalized medicine Peter J. Bowler Pharmacogenetics Pharmacology Phenotype Phenotypic trait Phenylalanine Phenylketonuria Phloem Photobiology Photosynthesis Phycology Phylogenetics Physiology Plant Plant genetic resources Plant genetics Plant stem Plasmid Ploidy Polycentric chromosome Polymer Polymerase chain reaction Polyploidization Polyploidy Polytene chromosome Pomology Population (biology)Population ecology Population genetics Population genomics Post-transcriptional modification Primary tumor Primatology Prokaryote Protamine Protein Protein biosynthesis Protein folding Protein primary structure Proteomics Protist Protistology Punnett square Quantitative genetics Quantitative trait locus Quantum biology RNA Ras proteins Reactive oxygen species Recessive allele Recombinant DNA Red blood cell Reductionism Regulation of gene expression Relational biology Reproduction Reproductive advantage Reproductive biology Reproductive system Resource (biology)Respiratory system Restriction enzymes Reverse genetics Ribosomal RNA Root Rosalind Franklin Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sanger sequencing Satellite chromosome Schizophrenia Science Scientific law Scientific method Scientific theory Selection (biology)Selective breeding Self-replication Sequence homology Sex-determination system Sex chromosome Sex linkage Sexual reproduction Shoot (botany)Siamese (cat)Sickle-cell anemia Single-nucleotide polymorphism Small supernumerary marker chromosome Sociobiology Somatic mutation Spatial biology Speciation Sperm Stimulus (physiology)Stop codon Structural biology Structure Submetacentric Synthetic biology Systematics Systems biology TINF2 Taxonomic rank Taxonomy (biology)Telocentric Telomere Telomere-binding protein Temperate climate Teratology The New York Times Thomas Hunt Morgan Thymine Timeline of biology and organic chemistry Timeline of the history of genetics Tissue (biology)Tomoko Ohta Toxicology Transcription (genetics)Transcription factor Transfer RNA Transformation (genetics)Translation (biology)Trinity College, Cambridge Trp repressor Tryptophan Tumor suppressor Tumour heterogeneity Twin study UV radiation Vascular plant Vascular tissue Virology Virophysics Virus Walther Flemming Water Welfare biology White (mutation)Wikiversity Wild type William Bateson X-ray crystallography X chromosome Xenobiology Xylem Y chromosome Zinc finger Zoology

173 concepts already in your glossary