genetics

/dʒəˈnɛdɪks/

/dʒɛˈnɛtɪks/

Genetics is the study of the traits people and other animals inherit from their family through DNA.

Compare the size of your nose to your father's and you are dealing with genetics — but only if he's your biological father. Genetics involves studying genes — DNA — to look at how organisms evolve and are related. Scientists use genetics to prove whether genes for things like depression or intelligence exist. One of the most commonly discussed examples of genetics is what determines if a man will lose his hair: oddly, men inherit the baldness gene from their mothers, not their fathers.

Definitions of genetics

1. noun

   the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms
   synonyms: genetic science

   types:

   cytogenetics

   the branch of biology that studies the cellular aspects of heredity (especially the chromosomes)

   genomics

   the branch of genetics that studies organisms in terms of their genomes (their full DNA sequences)

   proteomics

   the branch of genetics that studies the full set of proteins encoded by a genome

   molecular genetics

   the branch of genetics concerned with the structure and activity of genetic material at the molecular level

   pharmacogenetics

   the branch of genetics that studies the genetically determined variations in responses to drugs in humans or laboratory organisms

   functional genomics

   the branch of genomics that determines the biological function of the genes and their products

   structural genomics

   the branch of genomics that determines the three-dimensional structures of proteins

   type of:

   biological science, biology

   the science that studies living organisms