Principles of Inheritance and Variation - Important Definitions
CBSE CLASS 12 - Biology
Q1: Define heredity.
Answer: It can be defined as the transmission of characters from one generation to successive generations of living organisms.
Q2: Define Alleles
Answer: The various forms of a gene are called alleles.
Q3: What are multiple alleles?
Answer: If a gene has more than two alleles then they are said to be multiple alleles. e.g. In humans ABO blood groups is an example for multiple allelism.
Q4: What is genotype?
Answer: The genetic constitution of an organism is its genotype.
Q5: What is phenotype?
Answer: The external / observable characteristics of an organism constitute its phenotype.