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GCSE Biology · key term
The passing of genetic information and characteristics from parents to offspring.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.6.3.1, 4.6.3.3 · Paper 2
Revise: Evolutionary TheoryScientists did not yet know the mechanism responsible for inheritance and variation. This mechanism was not understood until about 50 years after the theory was published.
The transmission of genetic information from parents to their offspring.
For an explanation of natural selection, write a linked sequence: variation → environmental advantage → greater chance of survival and successful breeding → inheritance → increasing frequency over generations.
If asked why Darwin's theory was gradually accepted, give distinct reasons rather than repeating that it was controversial: religious challenge, insufficient evidence, and no known mechanism for inheritance and variation.
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Specification 3.11B · Paper 1
The passing of genetic information, which influences characteristics, from parents to offspring.
Revise: MendelChildren often resemble their parents, but inheritance is more than a simple copying of appearance. A characteristic can be absent from one generation and appear again in the next. Explaining such patterns was difficult before scientists understood the mechanism of inheritance.
Specification B5.1i · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
The passing of genetic information from parents to offspring.
Revise: Single gene inheritanceInheritance is the passing of genetic information from parents to offspring. Genes are sections of DNA, and different versions of the same gene are called alleles. In a simple single-gene example, an offspring receives one allele from each parent.