From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Biological inheritance
is the process by which an
offspring
cell or
organism acquires or becomes
predisposed to characteristics of
its parent cell or organism.
Through inheritance, variations
exhibited by individuals can
accumulate and cause a
species to
evolve.
Mechanisms of inheritance:
- Genetic or
Mendelian inheritance
results from
DNA replication and
cell division.
-
Epigenetic inheritance
results from, among other
things, DNA modifications such
as
gene silencing.
-
non-Mendelian inheritance
includes inheritance based on
cytoplasmic substituents,
including
mitochondria and
chloroplasts.
The study of biological
inheritance is called
genetics, which includes also
epigenetics.
