Genotype and Phenotype

What is the difference?

Review Words Characteristics – are the category of a trait –

Example – eye color, height, likes/dislikes Traits – the physical, social, and emotional

qualities of an organism Example – blue eyes, tall, hates carrots

Dominant Trait – when a majority of an organism shows the trait. Example – most pea plants show as tall

Recessive Trait – when a minority of an organism shows the trait. Example – few pea plants show as short

Alleles – all the possible choices for a characteristic Example – eye color – blue, brown, gray, green

Genotype How the genes code for a specific

trait. If the trait is dominant it uses a capital

letter Example – Tall (T)

If the trait is recessive it uses the same letter but lower case Example – short (t)

Genotypes always have two letters – one for dad and one for mom

Types of genotype Purebred (homozygous) dominant – the

genes only have the dominant trait in its code. Example – Dominant Tall -- TT

Purebred (homozygous) recessive – the genes only have the recessive trait in its code. Example – Recessive short – tt

Hybrid (heterozygous) – the genes are mixed code for that trait. Example – hybrid Tall -- Tt

Phenotype

The outward appearance of the trait.

How an organism looksHow an organism actsHow an organism feels

Tricks to remembering the difference between Genotype and Phenotype

Genotype – deals with GENE CODE.

Phenotype – deals with looks you can take a PHOTO with.