Battle of Genetics: Inherited vs. Learned
Every animal, plant, and human has genes or traits that make them who they are today. Some of the traits are inherited and some are learned. For me, inherited traits are traits that my mom and dad passed on to me during conception. My parents may not look like they have some of the inherited traits that they passed on to me. For example, he reason that I may have blonde hair but both my parents have black hair is because my parents passed on the recessive trait for blonde hair. This means that they had the gene for blonde hair in their bodies but it was "hidden" of covered up by the dominant trait for black hair. The gene for blonde hair may have been passed trough generations of my family until it finally reached me. We will learn more about recessive and dominant traits later.
Learned traits are traits that I have learned. These are traits that would not necessarily exist if I lived in a different sate or country or even with just a different family.. Learned traits are things such as knowing how to eat, knowing how to swim, knowing how to play video games, and my accent. Learned traits are traits that my mom and dad did not give me during conception.
Genetics: Inherited Traits, Learned Behaviors, Genotype and Phenotype
The science of genetics plays an important role in today's world. Scientists use genetics to alter and change crops into new crops, create new medicines, and treat diseases. Genetics is the study of heredity or the study of how traits pass through generations. Remember that there are inherited traits and learned behaviors. Learned behaviors are something that organisms learn where inherited traits are traits that are passed from parent to offspring. When we look at inherited traits, we see them classified into two categories: Dominant traits and recessive traits. A dominant trait is a trait that dominates and shows up in an organism. A recessive trait is a trait that is covered up by a dominant trait and shows up in an organism only when both alleles are recessive (rr).
Heterozygous is a way to describe traits that have a dominant and recessive allele (Rr) (Jj). Hetero means different.
Homozygous is a way to describe traits that have 2 recessive or 2 dominant alleles (RR) (TT) (AA).
Homo means same.
Genotype- the gene symbol or letters we use to represent the genes (Rr)
Phenotype- The physical trait (a trait you can see on an organism like black hair and blue eyes)
Learned Behaviors Inherited Traits
Avoiding bad tasting prey Eye Color
Type of music you enjoy Shape of your nose
Speaking with an accent Cactus Spines
Hunting Shoe size
Ability to hit a baseball Shape of a birds beak