WHAT ARE TRAITS?

•Physical Traits

• Can be seen by others

• Eye color, hair color, height, left handed

•Acquired Traits

• Learned skills

• Playing a sport, riding a bike, playing a musical instrument

•Behavioral Traits

• Instinctual actions

• Nest building and migration

•Allele

• An allele is an alternative form of a gene that is located at a specific position on a specific chromosome.

• A,a,B,b ….

•Genotype

• The particular alleles (genes) an individual carries

• They are inherited from your biological parents

• Genes control your traits

• Example: Aa or aa

•Phenotype

•An individual’s observable traits

•What people can SEE when they look at you

• Example: Curly hair

•An individual with non-identical alleles of a gene is heterozygous for that gene• Examples: Bb, Tt, Aa

•An individual with identical alleles of a gene is homozygous for that gene• Examples: BB or bb, TT or tt

•An allele is dominant if its effect masks the effect of a recessive allele paired with it•Capital letters (A) signify dominant alleles; lowercase letters (a) signify recessive alleles•Homozygous dominant (AA)•Homozygous recessive (aa)•Heterozygous (Aa)

INHERITED TRAITS

RIGHT (RR, RR) OR LEFT (RR) HANDED?

FRECKLES (FF, FF) NO FRECKLES (FF)

CURLY (HH, HH) OR STRAIGHT (HH)

ACQUIRED TRAITS

RIDING A BIKE

READING

WALKING