genetics

The study of heredity and variation in living organisms. Genes encode biological information as DNA sequences, transmitting traits from parent to offspring.

Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment describe how alleles separate during gamete formation and recombine at fertilization. Modern molecular biology reveals the physical basis: DNA replication, transcription to RNA, and translation to protein.

Mutations — substitutions, insertions, deletions — introduce variation. Natural selection, drift, and gene flow act on this variation to drive evolution across generations.

Genomic tools such as sequencing and CRISPR editing now allow direct reading and rewriting of genetic instructions.

discover all concepts