Breeding and
Genetics terminologies
ELFREN F. CELESTINO JR.
ATAVISM
Reappearance of a character after it has not
appeared for one or more generations.
BACKCROSS
crossing of F1 offspring with either parental breeds.
BLOCKY
refers to a deep, wide and low-set animals
BURRO
a donkey or a ass
CALF CROP
The number or percentage of calves produced in a
herd within a year.
AUTOSOMES
Chromosomes other than sex chromosomes.
CATALO (CATTALO)
crossbred between American bison and domestic
cattle.
CROSSING OVER
exchange of parts of homologous chromosomes
during meiosis.
EPISTASIS
interaction of two or more pairs of genes that are not
alleles to produce a phenotype that they don’t
produce when they occur separately.
HERITABILITY ESTIMATE
an estimate of the proportion of the total phenotypic
variation in a population that is due to heredity.
KARYOTYPE
chromosomes of a plant or animals that at metaphase
stage of cell division.
LOCUS
region of chromosomes or pairs of homologous
chromosomes where a particular gene is located.
MULTIPLE ALLELES
a series of more than two alleles which occupy the
same location in a homologous chromosomes.
NICKING
The production of progeny that are superior to the
parents which produce them.
NUCLEOTIDE
a chemical compound composed of a nitrogen base,
a sugar and phosphate molecule.
NULLIPAROUS
females that never give birth to a young.
OUTCROSS
mating of an individual to another within the same
breed which is not closely related to it.
OVERDOMINANCE
interaction of the members of a pair of genes to
produce a phenotype more superior in heterozygote
that either homozygote.
PHENOCOPY
production of a particular phenotype by environment
that is also produced by heredity.
PLEITROPHY
a situation where one gene affects two or more traits.
POLYGENIC INHERITANCE
a trait determined by many pairs of genes.
RIDGLING (RIGLING)
cryptorchid
SYNAPSIS
coming together of paired chromosomes during first
meiotic division.
TEST CROSS
a test to determine if the individual is s carrier or
recessive gene.
VARIANCE
amount of variation within a population.
CHROMOSOMES
the cell material which acts as the means for
transporting genes during cell division.
GENES
The units or factors of heredity that are responsible for
the expression of any characteristic.
GENETICS
The science or study of heredity and variation.
GENETIC VARIATION
The differences in genetic makeup that exist among
animals.
INBREEDING
Practice of mating animals more closely related than
the average of the population. Examples: full brother
to sister, sire to daughter, or son to dam.
LETHAL GENE
A gene which causes the death of the animal, usually
before or at birth.
Most gene pairs causing inherited lethals must be in
the homozygous (pure) recessive condition to be
fatal.
LINEBREEDING
A mild form of inbreeding. Usually practiced to
maintain as high a relationship as possible to some
outstanding ancestor.
LONGEVITY
Length of useful life.
PENETRANCE
The ability of a gene or group of genes to cause their
characteristic to develop under the conditions of a
particular environment.
PERSISTENCY
The degree to which character is maintained during
longevity.
PREDICTED TRANSMITTING ABILITY (PTA)
Estimate of genetic superiority (or inferiority) that an
animal will transmit to an offspring.
PROGENY TEST
The evaluation of an animal based upon the
performance or appearance of its offspring.
ALLELES
different versions of the same gene (found at the
same locus in homologous chromosomes that may
produce different phenotype.
CODOMINANT ALLELES
two alleles that have different effects that are
distinguishable in a heterozygous individual (e.g. AB
blood groups)
CROSSBREEDING
crossing two different breeds.
DOMINANT ALLELE
one that determines the phenotype even when there
is only one copy (i.e. in a heterozygous individual).
DRIFT
changes in allele frequencies over time due to
chance (as opposed to selection or mutation).
EPISTASIS
used to describe the situation where one gene's
expression prevents the expression of another.
FIXATION
loss of all alleles of a gene.
GENE DROPPING
loss of alleles due to genetic drift.
GENETIC BOTTLENECK
when population numbers are temporarily reduced to
a level insufficient to maintain the diversity in the
population.
GENETIC DIVERSITY
usually expressed in terms of percentage of genes
that are polymorphic and/or are heterozygous.
GENOME
the total genetic makeup of an organism.
HETEROZYGOUS
carrying two different alleles of a gene.
HETEROZYGOUS ADVANTAGE
a situation where the heterozygous genotype for a
particular gene shows the highest relative fitness.
HETEROZYGOUS INSUFFICIENCY
when the heterozygous genotype lacks sufficient
gene product to have the normal phenotype.
(Approximately equivalent to partial dominance.)
HETEROSIS
a situation where crossing two inbred lines yields
progeny that are more healthy/vigorous than their
parents. (More commonly used in plant breeding.)
Linkage
a measure of how frequently two genes found on the
same chromosome remain together during gamete
(egg or sperm) formation.
ALLELE FREQUENCY
the fraction of all the alleles of a gene in a population that are
of one type
OUTCROSSING
mating two individuals of the same breed that are
sufficiently unrelated.
RECOMBINATION
the reciprocal exchange of portions of two
homologous chromosomes during gamete formation.
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