Genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

is the study of how living things receive common traits from previous generations. These traits are described by the genetic information carried by a molecule called DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

. The instructions for constructing and operating an organism are contained in the organism's DNA. Every living thing on earth has DNA in its cells. Gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

s are the hereditary components of DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 that occupy spots on chromosome

Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...

s and determine characteristics in an organism

Organism

In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...

. Genes are passed on from parent

Parent

A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child . Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child...

 to child and are an important part of what determines physical appearance and behavior

Behavior

Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...

. Gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

s also determine what traits a whole family (such as the grandfather, great grandfather, etc.), will have, because genes are passed down in chromosomes from generation to generation.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to genetics:

Essence of genetics

• Chromosome
  Chromosome
  A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
  
  
• DNA
  DNA
  Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
  
  
• Genetic variation
  Genetic variation
  Genetic variation, variation in alleles of genes, occurs both within and among populations. Genetic variation is important because it provides the “raw material” for natural selection. Genetic variation is brought about by mutation, a change in a chemical structure of a gene. Polyploidy is an...
  
  
• Heredity
  Heredity
  Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring . This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve...
  
  

Branches of genetics

• Behavioural genetics
  Behavioural genetics
  Quantitative human behavioural genetics is a specialisation in the biological field of behaviour genetics that studies the role of genetics in human behaviour employing quantitative-genetic methods. The field is an overlap of quantitative genetics and psychology...
  
  
• Classical genetics
  Classical genetics
  Classical genetics consists of the technique and methodologies of genetics that predate the advent of molecular biology. A key discovery of classical genetics in eukaryotes was genetic linkage...
  
  
• Developmental genetics
• Conservation genetics
  Conservation genetics
  Conservation genetics is an interdisciplinary science that aims to apply genetic methods to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity. Researchers involved in conservation genetics come from a variety of fields including population genetics, molecular ecology, biology, evolutionary biology,...
  
  
• Ecological genetics
  Ecological genetics
  Ecological genetics is the study of genetics in natural populations.This contrasts with classical genetics, which works mostly on crosses between laboratory strains, and DNA sequence analysis, which studies genes at the molecular level....
  
  
• Evolutionary genetics
  Evolutionary genetics
  Evolutionary genetics is the broad field of studies that attempts to account for evolution in terms of changes in gene and genotype frequencies within populations and the processes that convert the variation with populations into more or less permanent variation between species...
  
  
• Genetic engineering
  Genetic engineering
  Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
  
  
  • Metagenics
    Metagenics
    The word metagenics uses the prefix meta and the suffix gen. Literally, it means "the creation of something which creates."In the context of biotechnology, metagenics is the practice of engineering organisms to create a specific enzyme, protein, or other biochemicals from simpler starting...
    
    
• Genetics of intelligence
• Genomics
  Genomics
  Genomics is a discipline in genetics concerning the study of the genomes of organisms. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts. The field also includes studies of intragenomic phenomena such as heterosis,...
  
  
• Human genetics
  Human genetics
  Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics,...
  
  
  • Human evolutionary genetics
    Human evolutionary genetics
    Human evolutionary genetics studies how one human genome differs from the other, the evolutionary past that gave rise to it, and its current effects. Differences between genomes have anthropological, medical and forensic implications and applications...
    
    
  • Human mitochondrial genetics
    Human mitochondrial genetics
    Human mitochondrial genetics is the study of the genetics of the DNA contained in human mitochondria. Mitochondria are small structures in cells that generate energy for the cell to use, and are hence referred to as the "powerhouses" of the cell....
    
    
• Medical genetics
  Medical genetics
  Medical genetics is the specialty of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from Human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, but medical genetics refers to the...
  
  
• Microbial genetics
  Microbial genetics
  Microbial genetics is a subject area within microbiology and genetic engineering. It studies the genetics of very small organisms. This involves the study of the genotype of microbial species and also the expression system in the form of phenotypes.It also involves the study of genetic processes...
  
  
• Molecular genetics
  Molecular genetics
  Molecular genetics is the field of biology and genetics that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level. The field studies how the genes are transferred from generation to generation. Molecular genetics employs the methods of genetics and molecular biology...
  
  
• Population genetics
  Population genetics
  Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
  
  
  • Archaeogenetics
    Archaeogenetics
    Archaeogenetics, a term coined by Colin Renfrew, refers to the application of the techniques of molecular population genetics to the study of the human past. This can involve:*the analysis of DNA recovered from archaeological remains, i.e...
    
    
    • Archaeogenetics of the Near East
      Archaeogenetics of the Near East
      The archaeogenetics of the Near East involves the study of aDNA or ancient DNA, identifying haplogroups and haplotypes of ancient skeletal remains from both YDNA and mtDNA for populations of the Ancient Near East The archaeogenetics of the Near East involves the study of aDNA or ancient DNA,...
      
      
• Psychiatric genetics
  Psychiatric genetics
  Psychiatric genetics, a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics, studies the role of genetics in psychological conditions such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. The basic principle behind psychiatric genetics is that genetic polymorphisms, as indicated by linkage to e.g...
  
  
• Quantitative genetics
  Quantitative genetics
  Quantitative genetics is the study of continuous traits and their underlying mechanisms. It is effectively an extension of simple Mendelian inheritance in that the combined effects of one or more genes and the environments in which they are expressed give rise to continuous distributions of...
  
  

History of genetics

Main article: History of genetics

History of genetics

The history of genetics started with the work of the Augustinian friar Gregor Johann Mendel. His work on pea plants, published in 1866, described what came to be known as Mendelian Inheritance...

• Ancient Concepts of Heredity
• History of evolutionary thought
  History of evolutionary thought
  Evolutionary thought, the conception that species change over time, has roots in antiquity, in the ideas of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese as well as in medieval Islamic science...
  
  
• History of plant systematics
  History of plant systematics
  The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usually being treated as part of the study of...
  
  
• Experiments on Plant Hybridization
  Experiments on Plant Hybridization
  Written in 1865 by Gregor Mendel, Experiments on Plant Hybridization was the result after years spent studying genetic traits in pea plants. Mendel read his paper to the Natural History Society of Brünn on February 8 and March 8, 1865...
  
  
• History of genomics
• Neanderthal genome project
  Neanderthal Genome Project
  The Neanderthal genome project is a collaboration of scientists coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and 454 Life Sciences in the United States to sequence the Neanderthal genome....
  
  

General genetics concepts

• adenine
  Adenine
  Adenine is a nucleobase with a variety of roles in biochemistry including cellular respiration, in the form of both the energy-rich adenosine triphosphate and the cofactors nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide , and protein synthesis, as a chemical component of DNA...
  
  
• adenosine deaminase deficiency
  Adenosine deaminase deficiency
  Adenosine deaminase deficiency, also called ADA deficiency or ADA-SCID, is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder that causes immunodeficiency. It occurs in fewer than one in 100,000 live births worldwide....
  
   (ADA)
• adenovirus
• Alagille syndrome
  Alagille syndrome
  Alagille syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects the liver, heart, kidney, and other systems of the body. Problems associated with the disorder generally become evident in infancy or early childhood...
  
  
• allele
  Allele
  An allele is one of two or more forms of a gene or a genetic locus . "Allel" is an abbreviation of allelomorph. Sometimes, different alleles can result in different observable phenotypic traits, such as different pigmentation...
  
  
• amino acids
• animal model
  Animal model
  An animal model is a living, non-human animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease without the added risk of causing harm to an actual human being during the process...
  
  
• antibody
  Antibody
  An antibody, also known as an immunoglobulin, is a large Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, termed an antigen...
  
  
• antisense
• apoptosis
  Apoptosis
  Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation...
  
  
• ataxia-telangiectasia
• Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative syndrome
  Lymphoproliferative disorders
  Lymphoproliferative disorders refer to several conditions in which lymphocytes are produced in excessive quantities. They typically occur in patients who have compromised immune systems...
  
   (ALPS)
• autosomal dominant
• autosome
  Autosome
  An autosome is a chromosome that is not a sex chromosome, or allosome; that is to say, there is an equal number of copies of the chromosome in males and females. For example, in humans, there are 22 pairs of autosomes. In addition to autosomes, there are sex chromosomes, to be specific: X and Y...
  
  
• bacteria
  Bacteria
  Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
  
  
• bacterial artificial chromosome
  Bacterial artificial chromosome
  A bacterial artificial chromosome is a DNA construct, based on a functional fertility plasmid , used for transforming and cloning in bacteria, usually E. coli. F-plasmids play a crucial role because they contain partition genes that promote the even distribution of plasmids after bacterial cell...
  
   (BAC)
• base pair
  Base pair
  In molecular biology and genetics, the linking between two nitrogenous bases on opposite complementary DNA or certain types of RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds is called a base pair...
  
  
• birth defect
• bone marrow transplantation
• BRCA1
  BRCA1
  BRCA1 is a human caretaker gene that produces a protein called breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein, responsible for repairing DNA. The first evidence for the existence of the gene was provided by the King laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1990...
  
  /BRCA2
  BRCA2
  BRCA2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BRCA2 gene.BRCA2 orthologs have been identified in most mammals for which complete genome data are available....
  
  
• cancer
  Cancer
  Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
  
  
• candidate gene
  Candidate gene
  A candidate gene is a gene, located in a chromosome region suspected of being involved in the expression of a trait such as a disease, whose protein product suggests that it could be the gene in question...
  
  
• carcinoma
  Carcinoma
  Carcinoma is the medical term for the most common type of cancer occurring in humans. Put simply, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that generally arises from cells originating in the endodermal or ectodermal germ layer during...
  
  
• carrier
  Genetic carrier
  A genetic carrier , is a person or other organism that has inherited a genetic trait or mutation, but who does not display that trait or show symptoms of the disease. They are, however, able to pass the gene onto their offspring, who may then express the gene...
  
  
• cDNA library
  CDNA library
  A cDNA library is a combination of cloned cDNA fragments inserted into a collection of host cells, which together constitute some portion of the transcriptome of the organism. cDNA is produced from fully transcribed mRNA found in the nucleus and therefore contains only the expressed genes of an...
  
  
• cell
  Cell (biology)
  The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
  
  
• centimorgan
  Centimorgan
  In genetics, a centimorgan or map unit is a unit of recombinant frequency for measuring genetic linkage, defined as that distance between chromosome positions for which the expected average number of intervening chromosomal crossovers in a single generation is 0.01. It is often used to infer...
  
  
• centromere
  Centromere
  A centromere is a region of DNA typically found near the middle of a chromosome where two identical sister chromatids come closest in contact. It is involved in cell division as the point of mitotic spindle attachment...
  
  
• chromosome
  Chromosome
  A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
  
  
• cloning
  Cloning
  Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
  
  
• codon
• Congenital disorder
  Congenital disorder
  A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...
  
  
• contig
  Contig
  A contig is a set of overlapping DNA segments that together represent a consensus region of DNA. In bottom-up sequencing projects, a contig refers to overlapping sequence data ; in top-down sequencing projects, contig refers to the overlapping clones that form a physical map of the genome that is...
  
  
• craniosynostosis
  Craniosynostosis
  Craniosynostosis is a condition in which one or more of the fibrous sutures in an infant skull prematurely fuses by ossification, thereby changing the growth pattern of the skull...
  
  
• cystic fibrosis
  Cystic fibrosis
  Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disease affecting most critically the lungs, and also the pancreas, liver, and intestine...
  
  
• cytogenetic map
• cytosine
  Cytosine
  Cytosine is one of the four main bases found in DNA and RNA, along with adenine, guanine, and thymine . It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attached . The nucleoside of cytosine is cytidine...
  
  
• deletion
  Deletion
  Deletion is the act of deleting or removal by striking out material, such as a word or passage, that has been removed from a body of written or printed matter.Deletion may refer to:*File deletion, a way of removing a file from a computer's file system...
  
  
• deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
• diabetes mellitus
  Diabetes mellitus
  Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...
  
  
• diploid
• DNA replication
  DNA replication
  DNA replication is a biological process that occurs in all living organisms and copies their DNA; it is the basis for biological inheritance. The process starts with one double-stranded DNA molecule and produces two identical copies of the molecule...
  
  
• DNA sequencing
  DNA sequencing
  DNA sequencing includes several methods and technologies that are used for determining the order of the nucleotide bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a molecule of DNA....
  
  
• dominant
• double helix
• duplication
  Gene duplication
  Gene duplication is any duplication of a region of DNA that contains a gene; it may occur as an error in homologous recombination, a retrotransposition event, or duplication of an entire chromosome.The second copy of the gene is often free from selective pressure — that is, mutations of it have no...
  
  
• electrophoresis
  Electrophoresis
  Electrophoresis, also called cataphoresis, is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. This electrokinetic phenomenon was observed for the first time in 1807 by Reuss , who noticed that the application of a constant electric...
  
  
• Ellisvan Creveld syndrome
  Ellis-van Creveld syndrome
  Ellis–van Creveld Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder of the skeletal dysplasia type.-Symptoms:...
  
  
• enzyme
  Enzyme
  Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
  
  
• exon
  Exon
  An exon is a nucleic acid sequence that is represented in the mature form of an RNA molecule either after portions of a precursor RNA have been removed by cis-splicing or when two or more precursor RNA molecules have been ligated by trans-splicing. The mature RNA molecule can be a messenger RNA...
  
  
• familial Mediterranean fever
  Familial Mediterranean fever
  Familial Mediterranean fever is a hereditary inflammatory disorder. FMF is an autoinflammatory disease caused by mutations in MEFV, a gene which encodes a 781–amino acid protein denoted pyrin....
  
  
• fibroblasts
• fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
• Fragile X syndrome
  Fragile X syndrome
  Fragile X syndrome , Martin–Bell syndrome, or Escalante's syndrome , is a genetic syndrome that is the most commonly known single-gene cause of autism and the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability...
  
  
• gene
  Gene
  A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
  
  
• gene amplification
• gene expression
  Gene expression
  Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
  
  
• gene library
  Gene library
  A genomic library is a population of host bacteria, each of which carries a DNA molecule that was inserted into a cloning vector, such that the collection of cloned DNA molecules represents the entire genome of the source organism...
  
  
• gene mapping
  Gene mapping
  Gene mapping, also called genome mapping, is the creation of a genetic map assigning DNA fragments to chromosomes.When a genome is first investigated, this map is nonexistent. The map improves with the scientific progress and is perfect when the genomic DNA sequencing of the species has been...
  
  
• gene pool
  Gene pool
  In population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique alleles in a species or population.- Description :A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can survive bouts of intense selection...
  
  
• gene therapy
  Gene therapy
  Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. It is a technique for correcting defective genes that are responsible for disease development...
  
  
• gene transfer
• genetic code
  Genetic code
  The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is translated into proteins by living cells....
  
  
  • ATGC
    ACGT
    ACGT stands for the four nucleic acid bases that make up DNA. The A stands for Adenine and pairs with the T, which stands for Thymine. The C stands for Cytosine and pairs with the G, Guanine. These four nucleic acids make up a creature's genetic code, or DNA....
    
    
• genetic counseling
  Genetic counseling
  Genetic counseling or traveling is the process by which patients or relatives, at risk of an inherited disorder, are advised of the consequences and nature of the disorder, the probability of developing or transmitting it, and the options open to them in management and family planning...
  
  
• genetic linkage
  Genetic linkage
  Genetic linkage is the tendency of certain loci or alleles to be inherited together. Genetic loci that are physically close to one another on the same chromosome tend to stay together during meiosis, and are thus genetically linked.-Background:...
  
  
• genetic map
• genetic marker
  Genetic marker
  A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify cells, individuals or species. It can be described as a variation that can be observed...
  
  
• genetic screening
• genome
  Genome
  In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
  
  
• genotype
  Genotype
  The genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration...
  
  
• germ line
• guanine
  Guanine
  Guanine is one of the four main nucleobases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine, and thymine . In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine. With the formula C5H5N5O, guanine is a derivative of purine, consisting of a fused pyrimidine-imidazole ring system with...
  
  
• haploid
• haploinsufficiency
  Haploinsufficiency
  Haploinsufficiency occurs when a diploid organism only has a single functional copy of a gene and the single functional copy of the gene does not produce enough of a gene product to bring about a wild-type condition, leading to an abnormal or diseased state...
  
  
• hematopoietic stem cell
• hemophilia
• heterozygous
• highly conserved sequence
• Hirschsprung's disease
  Hirschsprung's disease
  Hirschsprung's disease , or congenital aganglionic megacolon is a serious medical problem where the enteric nervous system is missing from the end of the bowel. The enteric nervous system is a complex network of neurons and glia that controls most aspects of intestinal function...
  
  
• holoprosencephaly
  Holoprosencephaly
  Holoprosencephaly is a cephalic disorder in which the prosencephalon fails to develop into two hemispheres. Normally, the forebrain is formed and the face begins to develop in the fifth and sixth weeks of human pregnancy...
  
  
• homologous recombination
  Homologous recombination
  Homologous recombination is a type of genetic recombination in which nucleotide sequences are exchanged between two similar or identical molecules of DNA. It is most widely used by cells to accurately repair harmful breaks that occur on both strands of DNA, known as double-strand breaks...
  
  
• homozygous
• human artificial chromosome
  Human artificial chromosome
  A human artificial chromosome is a microchromosome that can act as a new chromosome in a population of human cells. That is, instead of 46 chromosomes, the cell could have 47 with the 47th being very small, roughly 6-10 megabases in size, and able to carry new genes introduced by human researchers...
  
   (HAC)
• Human Genome Project
  Human Genome Project
  The Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional...
  
  
• human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
• Huntington's disease
  Huntington's disease
  Huntington's disease, chorea, or disorder , is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline and dementia. It typically becomes noticeable in middle age. HD is the most common genetic cause of abnormal involuntary writhing movements called chorea...
  
  
• hybridization
• immunotherapy
  Immunotherapy
  Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies. While immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are...
  
  
• in situ hybridization
  In situ hybridization
  In situ hybridization is a type of hybridization that uses a labeled complementary DNA or RNA strand to localize a specific DNA or RNA sequence in a portion or section of tissue , or, if the tissue is small enough , in the entire tissue...
  
  
• inherited
• insertion
  Insertion
  Insertion may refer to:*Insertion , the point of a tendon or ligament onto the skeleton or other part of the body*Insertion , the addition of DNA into a genetic sequence*Insertion loss, in electronics...
  
  
• intellectual property rights
• intron
  Intron
  An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is removed by RNA splicing to generate the final mature RNA product of a gene. The term intron refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene, and the corresponding sequence in RNA transcripts. Sequences that are joined together in the final...
  
  
• Jurassic Park (genetics of)
• karyotype
  Karyotype
  A karyotype is the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryotic cell. The term is also used for the complete set of chromosomes in a species, or an individual organism.p28...
  
  
• knockout
  Knockout
  A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
  
  
• leukemia
  Leukemia
  Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
  
  
• locus
  Locus (genetics)
  In the fields of genetics and genetic computation, a locus is the specific location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome. A variant of the DNA sequence at a given locus is called an allele. The ordered list of loci known for a particular genome is called a genetic map...
  
  
• LOD score
• lymphocyte
  Lymphocyte
  A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells...
  
  
• malformation
• Gene mapping
  Gene mapping
  Gene mapping, also called genome mapping, is the creation of a genetic map assigning DNA fragments to chromosomes.When a genome is first investigated, this map is nonexistent. The map improves with the scientific progress and is perfect when the genomic DNA sequencing of the species has been...
  
  
• marker
  Marker
  Marker may refer to:* Marker , a morpheme that indicates some grammatical function* Marker , a special-purpose computer* A set of sewing patterns tightly arranged within a rectangle that is placed over cloth to be cut...
  
  
• melanoma
  Melanoma
  Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
  
  
• Mendel, Johann (Gregor)
  Gregor Mendel
  Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
  
  
• Mendelian inheritance
  Mendelian inheritance
  Mendelian inheritance is a scientific description of how hereditary characteristics are passed from parent organisms to their offspring; it underlies much of genetics...
  
  
• messenger RNA
  Messenger RNA
  Messenger RNA is a molecule of RNA encoding a chemical "blueprint" for a protein product. mRNA is transcribed from a DNA template, and carries coding information to the sites of protein synthesis: the ribosomes. Here, the nucleic acid polymer is translated into a polymer of amino acids: a protein...
  
  
  • mRNA
• metaphase
  Metaphase
  Metaphase, from the ancient Greek μετά and φάσις , is a stage of mitosis in the eukaryotic cell cycle in which condensed & highly coiled chromosomes, carrying genetic information, align in the middle of the cell before being separated into each of the two daughter cells...
  
  
• microarray technology
• microsatellite
• mitochondrial DNA
  Mitochondrial DNA
  Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
  
  
• monosomy
  Monosomy
  Monosomy is a form of aneuploidy with the presence of only one chromosome from a pair. Partial monosomy occurs when only a portion of the chromosome has one copy, while the rest has two copies.-Human monosomy:...
  
  
• mouse model
• multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 1
  • MEN1
    MEN1
    Menin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MEN1 gene. Menin is a putative tumor suppressor associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1....
    
    )
• mutation
  Mutation
  In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
  
  
• neurofibromatosis
  Neurofibromatosis
  Neurofibromatosis is a genetically-inherited disorder in which the nerve tissue grows tumors that may be benign or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues...
  
  
• Niemann-Pick disease, type C (NPC)
• non-coding DNA
• non-directiveness
• nonsense mutation
  Nonsense mutation
  In genetics, a nonsense mutation is a point mutation in a sequence of DNA that results in a premature stop codon, or a nonsense codon in the transcribed mRNA, and in a truncated, incomplete, and usually nonfunctional protein product. It differs from a missense mutation, which is a point mutation...
  
  
• Northern blot
  Northern blot
  The northern blot is a technique used in molecular biology research to study gene expression by detection of RNA in a sample. With northern blotting it is possible to observe cellular control over structure and function by determining the particular gene expression levels during differentiation,...
  
  
• nucleotide
  Nucleotide
  Nucleotides are molecules that, when joined together, make up the structural units of RNA and DNA. In addition, nucleotides participate in cellular signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions...
  
  
• nucleus
  Cell nucleus
  In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...
  
  
• oligo
  Oligo
  Oligo may refer to:*Oligonucleotide as an abbreviation.*OLIGO Primer Analysis Software...
  
  
• oncogene
  Oncogene
  An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, they are often mutated or expressed at high levels.An oncogene is a gene found in the chromosomes of tumor cells whose activation is associated with the initial and continuing conversion of normal cells into cancer...
  
  
• oncovirus
  Oncovirus
  An oncovirus is a virus that can cause cancer. This term originated from studies of acutely-transforming retroviruses in the 1950–60s, often called oncornaviruses to denote their RNA virus origin. It now refers to any virus with a DNA or RNA genome causing cancer and is synonymous with "tumor...
  
  
• p53
  P53
  p53 , is a tumor suppressor protein that in humans is encoded by the TP53 gene. p53 is crucial in multicellular organisms, where it regulates the cell cycle and, thus, functions as a tumor suppressor that is involved in preventing cancer...
  
  
• Parkinson's disease
  Parkinson's disease
  Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
  
  
• Particulate inheritance theory
  Particulate inheritance theory
  Particulate inheritance is a pattern of inheritance discovered by Mendelian theorists showing that characteristics can be passed from generation to generation through "discrete particles"...
  
  
• patent
  Patent
  A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
  
  
• pedigree
• peptide
  Peptide
  Peptides are short polymers of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. They are distinguished from proteins on the basis of size, typically containing less than 50 monomer units. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of two amino acids joined by a single peptide bond...
  
  
• phenotype
  Phenotype
  A phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
  
  
• physical map
  Physical map
  Physical map may refer to:* Physical map , maps that shows countries of the world.* Physical map , showing how much DNA separates two genes and is measured in base pairs, as opposed to a genetic map...
  
  
• polydactyly
  Polydactyly
  Polydactyly or polydactylism , also known as hyperdactyly, is a congenital physical anomaly in humans, dogs, and cats having supernumerary fingers or toes....
  
  
• polymerase chain reaction
  Polymerase chain reaction
  The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
  
   (PCR)
• polymorphism
  Polymorphism (biology)
  Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
  
  
• positional cloning
• primary immunodeficiency
  Primary immunodeficiency
  Primary immunodeficiencies are disorders in which part of the body's immune system is missing or does not function properly. To be considered a primary immunodeficiency, the cause of the immune deficiency must not be secondary in nature...
  
  
• primer
  Primer (molecular biology)
  A primer is a strand of nucleic acid that serves as a starting point for DNA synthesis. They are required for DNA replication because the enzymes that catalyze this process, DNA polymerases, can only add new nucleotides to an existing strand of DNA...
  
  
• probe
  Probe
  - Science and technology :* Medical equipment** Anal probe** Endoscope** Proctoscope* Atom probe, an atomic-resolution microscope* Hybridization probe or chemical probe, used in molecular biology...
  
  
• promoter
• pronucleus
  Pronucleus
  A pronucleus is the nucleus of a sperm or an egg cell during the process of fertilization, after the sperm enters the ovum, but before they fuse. Sperm and egg cells are haploid, meaning they carry half the number of chromosomes...
  
  
• prostate cancer
  Prostate cancer
  Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
  
  
• protease
  Protease
  A protease is any enzyme that conducts proteolysis, that is, begins protein catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain forming the protein....
  
  
• protein
  Protein
  Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
  
  
• pseudogene
  Pseudogene
  Pseudogenes are dysfunctional relatives of known genes that have lost their protein-coding ability or are otherwise no longer expressed in the cell...
  
  
• recessive
  Recessive
  In genetics, the term "recessive gene" refers to an allele that causes a phenotype that is only seen in a homozygous genotype and never in a heterozygous genotype. Every person has two copies of every gene on autosomal chromosomes, one from mother and one from father...
  
  
• recombinant DNA
  Recombinant DNA
  Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...
  
  
• repressor
  Repressor
  In molecular genetics, a repressor is a DNA-binding protein that regulates the expression of one or more genes by binding to the operator and blocking the attachment of RNA polymerase to the promoter, thus preventing transcription of the genes. This blocking of expression is called...
  
  
• restriction enzymes
• restriction fragment length polymorphism
  Restriction fragment length polymorphism
  In molecular biology, restriction fragment length polymorphism, or RFLP , is a technique that exploits variations in homologous DNA sequences. It refers to a difference between samples of homologous DNA molecules that come from differing locations of restriction enzyme sites, and to a related...
  
   (RFLP)
• retrovirus
  Retrovirus
  A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA...
  
  
• ribonucleic acid (RNA
  RNA
  Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....
  
  )
• ribosome
  Ribosome
  A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....
  
  
• risk communication
• sequence-tagged site
  Sequence-tagged site
  A sequence-tagged site is a short DNA sequence that has a single occurrence in the genome and whose location and base sequence are known....
  
   (STS)
• severe combined immunodeficiency
  Severe combined immunodeficiency
  Severe combined immunodeficiency , is a genetic disorder in which both "arms" of the adaptive immune system are impaired due to a defect in one of several possible genes. SCID is a severe form of heritable immunodeficiency...
  
   (SCID)
• sex chromosome
• sex-linked
• shotgun sequencing
  Shotgun sequencing
  In genetics, shotgun sequencing, also known as shotgun cloning, is a method used for sequencing long DNA strands. It is named by analogy with the rapidly-expanding, quasi-random firing pattern of a shotgun....
  
  
• sickle cell disease
• single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
• somatic cells
• Southern blot
  Southern blot
  A Southern blot is a method routinely used in molecular biology for detection of a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples. Southern blotting combines transfer of electrophoresis-separated DNA fragments to a filter membrane and subsequent fragment detection by probe hybridization. The method is named...
  
  
• spectral karyotype (SKY)
• substitution
  Substitution
  Substitution may refer to:- Sciences :* Substitution , a syntactic transformation on strings of symbols of a formal language* Substitution of variables* Substitution cipher, a method of encryption...
  
  
• suicide gene
  Suicide gene
  A suicide gene, in genetics, will cause a cell to kill itself through apoptosis. Activation of these genes can be due to many processes, but the main cellular "switch" to induce apoptosis is the p53 protein....
  
  
• syndrome
  Syndrome
  In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others...
  
  
• technology transfer
  Technology transfer
  Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
  
  
• thymine
  Thymine
  Thymine is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine is also known as 5-methyluracil, a pyrimidine nucleobase. As the name suggests, thymine may be derived by methylation of uracil at...
  
  
• transgenic
• translocation
  Translocation
  Translocation may refer to:* Chromosomal translocation, in genetics* Translocation in plants, transport of food or pesticides through phloem or xylem* Protein translocation or protein targeting, a process in protein biosynthesis...
  
  
• trisomy
  Trisomy
  A trisomy is a type of polysomy in which there are three copies, instead of the normal two, of a particular chromosome. A trisomy is a type of aneuploidy .-Description and causes:...
  
  
• tumor suppressor gene
  Tumor suppressor gene
  A tumor suppressor gene, or anti-oncogene, is a gene that protects a cell from one step on the path to cancer. When this gene is mutated to cause a loss or reduction in its function, the cell can progress to cancer, usually in combination with other genetic changes.-Two-hit hypothesis:Unlike...
  
  
• uracil
  Uracil
  Uracil is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of RNA that are represented by the letters A, G, C and U. The others are adenine, cytosine, and guanine. In RNA, uracil binds to adenine via two hydrogen bonds. In DNA, the uracil nucleobase is replaced by thymine.Uracil is a common and...
  
  
• vector
• Western blot
  Western blot
  The western blot is a widely used analytical technique used to detect specific proteins in the given sample of tissue homogenate or extract. It uses gel electrophoresis to separate native proteins by 3-D structure or denatured proteins by the length of the polypeptide...
  
  
• Wolfram syndrome
  Wolfram syndrome
  Wolfram syndrome, also called DIDMOAD , is a rare genetic disorder, causing diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, and deafness as well as various other possible disorders.It was first described in four siblings in 1938 by Dr. Don J...
  
  
• yeast artificial chromosome
  Yeast artificial chromosome
  A yeast artificial chromosome is a vector used to clone DNA fragments larger than 100 kb and up to 3000 kb. YACs are useful for the physical mapping of complex genomes and for the cloning of large genes...
  
   (YAC)

Classical geneticists

• Gregor Mendel
  Gregor Mendel
  Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
  
  
• Hugo de Vries
  Hugo de Vries
  Hugo Marie de Vries ForMemRS was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation...
  
  
• William Bateson
  William Bateson
  William Bateson was an English geneticist and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge...
  
  
• Thomas Hunt Morgan
  Thomas Hunt Morgan
  Thomas Hunt Morgan was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries relating the role the chromosome plays in heredity.Morgan received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in zoology...
  
  
• Alfred Sturtevant
  Alfred Sturtevant
  Alfred Henry Sturtevant was an American geneticist. Sturtevant constructed the first genetic map of a chromosome in 1913. Throughout his career he worked on the organism Drosophila melanogaster with Thomas Hunt Morgan...
  
  
• Ronald Fisher
  Ronald Fisher
  Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. Among other things, Fisher is well known for his contributions to statistics by creating Fisher's exact test and Fisher's equation...
  
  
• Frederick Griffith
  Frederick Griffith
  Frederick Griffith was a British bacteriologist whose focus was the epidemiology and pathology of bacterial pneumonia. In January 1928 he reported what is now known as Griffith's Experiment, the first widely accepted demonstrations of bacterial transformation, whereby a bacterium distinctly...
  
  
• Jean Brachet
  Jean Brachet
  Jean Louis Auguste Brachet was a Belgian biochemist who made a key contribution in understanding the role of RNA....
  
  
• Edward Lawrie Tatum
  Edward Lawrie Tatum
  Edward Lawrie Tatum was an American geneticist. He shared half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958 with George Wells Beadle for showing that genes control individual steps in metabolism...
  
  
• George Wells Beadle

DNA era geneticists

• Oswald Theodore Avery
• Colin McLeod
• Erwin Chargaff
  Erwin Chargaff
  Erwin Chargaff was an American biochemist who emigrated to the United States during the Nazi era. Through careful experimentation, Chargaff discovered two rules that helped lead to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA...
  
  
• Barbara McClintock
  Barbara McClintock
  Barbara McClintock , the 1983 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, was an American scientist and one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927, where she was a leader in the development of maize cytogenetics...
  
  
• James Watson
  James D. Watson
  James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
  
  
• Francis Crick
  Francis Crick
  Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
  
  

Genomics era geneticists

• Walter Fiers
  Walter Fiers
  Walter Fiers is a Belgian molecular biologist.He obtained a degree of Engineer for Chemistry and Agricultural Industries at the University of Ghent in 1954, and started his research career as an enzymologist in the laboratory of Laurent Vandendriessche in Ghent. In 1956-57, he worked with Heinz...
  
  
• Frederick Sanger
  Frederick Sanger
  Frederick Sanger, OM, CH, CBE, FRS is an English biochemist and a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, the only person to have been so. In 1958 he was awarded a Nobel prize in chemistry "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin"...
  
  
• Kary Banks Mullis
• Francis Collins
  Francis Collins (geneticist)
  Francis Sellers Collins , is an American physician-geneticist, noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project . He currently serves as Director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Prior to being appointed Director, he founded and...
  
  
• Lap-Chee Tsui
  Lap-Chee Tsui
  Professor Lap-chee Tsui, OC, O.Ont is a Chinese-Canadian geneticist and currently the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong.-Personal life:Tsui was born in Shanghai...