Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Genotype Definition The genotype of an organism is the chemical composition of its DNA, which gives rise to the phenotype, or observable traits of an organism. A genotype consists of all the nucleic acids present in a DNA molecule that code for a particular trait. The outward appearance, or phenotype, is the result of interactions […]

Genetics Definition Genetics is the study of genes and inheritance in living organisms. This branch of science has a fascinating history, stretching from the 19th century when scientists began to study how organisms inherited traits from their parents, to the present day when we can read the “source code” of living things letter-by-letter. Genetics started out […]

Genetic Variation Definition Genetic variation can be described as the differences between organisms caused by alternate forms of DNA. Genetic variation in combination with environmental variation causes the total phenotypic variation seen in a population. The phenotypic variation is what is seen by the observer; the height of a plant for instance. The environmental variation is the difference in […]

Genetic Recombination Definition Genetic recombination occurs when genetic material is exchanged between two different chromosomes or between different regions within the same chromosome. We can observe it in both eukaryotes (like animals and plants) and prokaryotes (like archaea and bacteria). Keep in mind that in most cases, in order for an exchange to occur, the sequences containing the swapped regions have […]

Genetic Equilibrium Definition Genetic equilibrium is a term used to describe a condition of static, or unchanging, allele frequencies in a population over time. Typically in a natural population the frequencies of alleles tend to shift as generations pass and different forces act on a population. This could be caused by many factors including natural selection, genetic […]

Definition Genetic drift is a change in allele frequency in a population, due to a random selection of certain genes. Oftentimes, mutations within the DNA can have no effect on the fitness of an organism. These changes in genetics can increase or decrease in a population, simply due to chance. Genetic Drift Explained Although variations […]

Genetic Code Definition The genetic code is the code our body uses to convert the instructions contained in our DNA the essential materials of life. It is typically discussed using the “codons” found in mRNA, as mRNA is the messenger that carries information from the DNA to the site of protein synthesis. Everything in our […]

Gene Pool Definition A gene pool is the collection of different genes within an interbreeding population. The concept of a gene pool usually refers to the sum of all the alleles at all of the loci within the genes of a population of a single species. It includes both genes that are expressed, and those that are not. A population that has […]

Gene Flow Definition Gene flow is the exchange of alleles between two or more populations. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as allele flow or gene migration. While migrating animals often carry new alleles from one population to another, they must interbreed with the new population for gene flow to occur. In the image below, a […]

Definition A gene is an extremely specific sequence of nucleotide monomers that has the ability to completely or partially control the expression of one or more traits in every type of living organism. Genes are formed from deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and, in the case of some viruses, ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymers. Overview It was Wilhelm Johannsen who […]