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  2. Heredity | Definition & Facts | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/science/heredity-genetics

    heredity, the sum of all biological processes by which particular characteristics are transmitted from parents to their offspring. The concept of heredity encompasses two seemingly paradoxical observations about organisms: the constancy of a species from generation to generation and the variation among individuals within a species.

  3. Genetics, study of heredity in general and of genes in particular. Genetics forms one of the central pillars of biology and overlaps with many other areas, such as agriculture, medicine, and biotechnology. Learn more about the history, biology, areas of study, and methods of genetics.

  4. Gene, unit of hereditary information that occupies a fixed position on a chromosome. Genes achieve their effects by directing the synthesis of proteins. They are composed of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), except in some viruses, which have genes consisting of a closely related compound called ribonucleic acid (RNA).

  5. heredity - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

    kids.britannica.com/students/article/heredity/274855

    The transmission of biological traits from one generation to the next is governed by the process of heredity. Heredity determines certain specific characteristics of plants and animals. Plants inherit traits that affect their physical and metabolic processes. Animals can inherit behavioral, mental, and physical traits.

  6. The basic concepts and features of heredity | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/summary/heredity-genetics

    heredity, Transmission of traits from parents to offspring through genes, the functional units of heritable material that are found within all living cells. From his studies in the mid-19th century, Gregor Mendel derived certain basic concepts of heredity, which eventually became the foundation for the modern science of genetics .

  7. Human genetics | Description, Chromosomes, & Inheritance -...

    www.britannica.com/science/human-genetics

    Human genetics, study of the inheritance of characteristics by children from parents. Human inheritance does not differ in any fundamental way from inheritance in other organisms. An understanding of human heredity is important in the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that have a genetic component.

  8. genetics - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

    kids.britannica.com/kids/article/genetics/353170

    Genetics is the study of heredity, or how certain features pass from parents to their offspring, or young. Every kind of plant and animal produces young of its own species, or type. The young resemble their parents.

  9. Variation | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/science/variation-biology

    variation, in biology, any difference between cells, individual organisms, or groups of organisms of any species caused either by genetic differences (genotypic variation) or by the effect of environmental factors on the expression of the genetic potentials (phenotypic variation).

  10. Heredity - Genes, DNA, Chromosomes | Britannica

    www.britannica.com/science/heredity-genetics/The-physical-basis-of-heredity

    Heredity - Genes, DNA, Chromosomes: When Gregor Mendel formulated his laws of heredity, he postulated a particulate nature for the units of inheritance. What exactly these particles were he did not know. Today scientists understand not only the physical location of hereditary units (i.e., the genes) but their molecular composition as well.

  11. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an organic chemical that contains genetic information and instructions for protein synthesis. It is found in most of every organism. DNA is a key part of reproduction in which genetic heredity occurs through the passing down of DNA from parent or parents to offspring.