Inheritance

How it is used

Used in clinical genetics and genetic counseling to describe how a condition runs in a family. Key phrases are 'autosomal dominant inheritance', 'autosomal recessive inheritance' and 'X-linked inheritance'. The verb is 'inherit' and the adjectives are 'inherited' and 'hereditary'.

Example sentences

1. The family history suggests an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance.

2. Cystic fibrosis follows autosomal recessive inheritance.

Common collocations

• pattern of inheritance
• mode of inheritance
• autosomal dominant inheritance
• autosomal recessive inheritance
• X-linked inheritance

Related terms

• alleleOne of the different versions of a gene that can exist at the same position on a chromosome. You inherit one allele of each gene from each parent.
• dominantDescribes an allele that shows its effect even when only one copy is present, so it hides the effect of the other allele.
• recessiveDescribes an allele whose effect only appears when a person has two copies of it, one from each parent.
• pedigreeA chart that shows the members of a family across several generations and which of them have a particular trait or condition.
• carrierA person who has one copy of a recessive disease-causing variant, usually without symptoms, and who can pass the variant on to their children.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• inheritance · Software Engineering
• inheritance · Law

More terms: Inheritance and Population Genetics

• genotype
• phenotype
• trait
• heterozygous
• homozygous
• GWAS