The terms "homozygous" and "heterozygous" refer to the genetic composition of an organism, specifically regarding the alleles (different forms of a gene) that it carries for a particular trait.
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Homozygous: An organism is homozygous for a gene if it has two identical alleles for that gene. For example, if a plant has two alleles for flower color that are both "purple" (PP) or both "white" (pp), it is considered homozygous for that trait.
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Heterozygous: An organism is heterozygous for a gene if it has two different alleles for that gene. For instance, if a plant has one allele for purple flowers (P) and one allele for white flowers (p), it is heterozygous (Pp) for the flower color trait.
These terms are important in genetics for predicting how traits may be inherited and expressed in offspring. In general, homozygous combinations often result in offspring that display the same phenotype (observable traits) as the parental generation, while heterozygous combinations may display a dominant phenotype or a blend of traits, depending on the nature of the alleles involved.
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