Canadian Medical Guide > Biological Sciences > Genetic Phenomena > Inheritance Patterns Terms and Definitions

Inheritance Patterns

Medical Definition:

The different ways GENES and their ALLELES interact during the transmission of genetic traits that effect the outcome of GENE EXPRESSION.

Inheritance Patterns Categories.

	Extrachromosomal Inheritance - Vertical transmission of hereditary characters by DNA from cytoplasmic organelles such as MITOCHONDRIA; CHLOROPLASTS; and PLASTIDS or from intracellular parasites such as VIRUSES and PLASMIDS. Mitochondrial inheritance is often referred to as maternal inheritance but should be differentiated from maternal inheritance that is transmitted chromosomally.
	Genes, Dominant - Genes that influence the PHENOTYPE both in the homozygous and the heterozygous state.
	Genes, Recessive - Genes that influence the PHENOTYPE only in the homozygous state.
	Multifactorial Inheritance - A phenotypic outcome (physical characteristic or disease predispostion) that is determined by more than one gene. Polygenic refers to those determined by many genes, while oligogenic refers to those determined by a few genes.
	Quantitative Trait, Heritable - A characteristic showing quantitative inheritance such as SKIN PIGMENTATION in humans. (From A Dictionary of Genetics, 4th ed)

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