Heredity

Definition

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. Through heredity, variations between individuals can accumulate and cause species to evolve by natural selection. The study of heredity in biology is genetics.

Related concepts

Adoption Aeschylus Affinity (law)Agape Ahnentafel Albinism Allele Allele frequency Alpheus Hyatt American Family Day Amino acid Ancestor Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Archaeogenetics Aristotle Aristotle's biology Asexual reproduction Astronaut family August 1948 Session of VASKhNIL August Weismann Aunt Australian Aboriginal kinship systems Autosomal Base pair Behavioural genetics Bilateral descent Biology Biometric Birth order Blending inheritance Bloodline (disambiguation)Bourgeois pseudoscience Breadwinner model Brother Cadet branch Canalisation (genetics)Cell (biology)Cell theory Charles Darwin Child Child-in-law Children's Day Children's Day (Japan)Chinese kinship Chromatin Chromosomal crossover Chromosome Clan Classical antiquity Classical genetics Codominance Coefficient of relationship Collateral (kinship)Collectivization in the Soviet Union Conjugal family Consanguinity Conservation genetics Cousin Crow kinship Cryptorchism Cytogenetics DNA DNA methylation DNA sequencing Daughter Daughter-in-law Developmental plasticity Disownment Divorce Dobzhansky Domestic violence Dominance relationship Dominant negative mutation Double helix Douglas J. Futuyma Dual inheritance theory Dysfunctional family Ecological genetics Ehlers–Danlos syndrome Environment (biophysical)Enzymes Epigenetic Epigenetic inheritance Epigenetics Epistasis Eros (concept)Evo-devo Evolution Expressivity (genetics)Extended family Extranuclear inheritance Eye color Family Family Day Family Day (Canada)Family estrangement Family of choice Family rights Family tree Father Father's Day Father–Daughter Day Fictive kinship Filial piety Fragile X syndrome Francis Galton Gavin de Beer Gene Genealogical numbering systems Genealogy Genetic code Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic engineering 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 information Genetic monitoring Genetic variation Geneticist Genetics Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia Genogram Genome Genome editing Genomics Genotype Georgii Karpechenko Georgii Nadson Glossary of genetics Godparent Gonosomal Grandchild Grandparent Grandparents' Day Great-aunt Great-grandchild Great-grandparent Great-uncle Gregor Mendel Group selection Haemophilia Hans Stubbe Hard inheritance Hawaiian kinship He Jiankui genome editing incident Heirloom Hereditary (film)Heredity (disambiguation)Heredity (journal)Heritability Hippocrates History of evolutionary thought History of genetics History of the family Homologous chromosome Homunculus Household Husband Hybrid (biology)Immediate family Immunogenetics Imprinting (genetics)Incest Index of genetics articles Inheritance Inheritance of acquired characteristics Inheritance of acquired traits International Day of Families Introduction to genetics Inuit kinship Iroquois kinship J. D. Bernal Joseph Stalin Kinship Kinship terminology Lamarckian Lamarckism Lineal descendant List of genetic codes List of genetics research organizations Locus (genetics)Lynn Margulis Lysenkoism Marfan's syndrome Marriage Matrifocal family Matrilineality Medical genetics Meiosis Mendelian inheritance Metabolism Microbial genetics Middle child syndrome Missing heritability problem Mitochondrial Mitochondrial DNA Mitosis Modern synthesis (20th century)Molecular evolution Molecular genetics Molecule Moravia Most recent common ancestor Mother Mother's Day Mother's Day (United States)Mouse Multilevel selection Museum of Motherhood Mutation National Adoption Day National Family Week National Family Week (UK)Natural selection Niche construction Niece and nephew Nikita Khrushchev Nikolai Vavilov Non-Mendelian inheritance Nuclear family Nucleic acid sequence Nucleobase Nucleotide Nurture kinship Oligogenic Omaha kinship On the Origin of Species Only child Organisms Osteogenesis imperfecta Outline of genetics Overdominance Pangenesis Parent Parent-in-law Parents' Day Particulate inheritance Patrilineality Pavlovian session Pedigree chart Penetrance Personalized medicine Phenotype Phenotypic trait Phenylketonuria Philia Plant genetics Politicization of science Polyfidelity Polygene Polymer Population genetics Population genomics Prions Progenitor Prominent ear Protein structure Quantitative genetics Quantitative trait locus Quarters of nobility RNA RNA interference Recessive Repression of science in the Soviet Union Reverse genetics Ronald Fisher Royal descent Science Museum, London Seize quartiers Sex-limited Sex-linked Sex chromosome Sexual reproduction Sibling Sibling-in-law Sibling abuse Sibling estrangement Sibling rivalry Siblings Day Sickle cell disease Single parent Sister Sociology of the family Son Son-in-law Soviet Union Speciation Species Spermatozoon Spouse Stepchild Stepfamily Stepfather Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Palumbi Stepmother Stepparent Stepsibling Storge Structural inheritance Sudanese kinship Sun tanning Sunburn Surname Symbiogenesis Tail Tan Jiazhen The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance Theophrastus Timeline of the history of genetics Transgenerational epigenetics Trofim Lysenko Uncle Underdominance Uniparental inheritance VASKhNIL Vernalization Wacław Gajewski Wedding anniversary Weismann barrier Wife World War II X chromosome Y chromosome Zhores Medvedev Zygosity

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