4th Part

How Genetic Information is Inherited 🧬

Genetic information is passed from parents to offspring through a specialized type of cell division called meiosis. This process creates reproductive cells, called gametes (sperm in males and egg in females), each of which contains only one set of chromosomes.

During fertilization, a sperm cell and an egg cell fuse together to form a single cell called a zygote. This new cell now has a complete set of 46 chromosomes—half from the mother and half from the father. This is how a new individual gets a unique combination of genetic traits from both parents.

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For each trait, such as eye color, you inherit one version of the gene, called an allele, from each parent. The combination of these alleles determines your specific characteristics.

That concludes our overview of genetics. Would you like to start a new topic?