Genetics Vocabulary

[guirguis]

My 7th graders are having trouble keeping the terms heterozygous, homozygous, genotype, and phenotype straight. They confuse the terms all the time. Any advice on how to help them remember the differences, especially for my English Language Learners. Thanks in advance.

[rosetaylor01]

Albino = Having the absent or deficient melanin. Widely used term for "Amelanistic".

Allele = Either of the two paired genes which affect an inheritable trait.

Amelanistic = Having no melanin.

Anerythristic = Having no red color.

Axanthic = Having no yellow color.

Co-dominant = A gene that causes the homozygous form to look different than the wild-type and the heterozygous form to have traits of both. Some examples of this would be the Pastel, Woma Tiger, Yellow Belly, Mojave, Red Axanthic, Platinum, Butter, Cinnamon, Fire, Calico and Spot nose Ball Pythons.

Chromosome = Each cell in every living thing has a nucleus. Much of the nucleus is made up of a constant number of paired chromosomes. Each chromosome is a single, long strand of DNA in a protein matrix. The strand of DNA contains many genes.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) = Molecules bearing genetic information of all living cells. Gene. Also referred to as “unit of inheritance.”

Dominant = A gene that causes an animal to look different than the wild-type and where the homozygous form and the heterozygous form look the same as each other. A simple example of this would be the Spider, Pinstripe and Granite Ball Pythons.

Double Heterozygous = being heterozygous for two different traits.

Triple Heterozygous = Heterozygous at three gene loci.

[annettemcd]

Teaching some of the basic Greek and Latin root words helps a great deal. If students learn to look at the parts of the words, they can often figure out the meaning of the words.

When I teach classes to students as young as first grades, I break down the words: Arthropods, exoskeleton, Homoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, etc. and have the students figure out the meaning of the words from their parts because they have often heard the parts in other words. (Arthro- means joint and most students know someone who has Arthritis which is a word with the same root.)

You can do the same thing with Genetics vocabulary. Homo- and Hetero- are opposites. Students may snicker, but they know that Homo- means "same," and may know that Hetero- means "different." It does not have to be a huge memorization task, but puzzles to solve.