Heredity, Natural Selection, and EvolutionEarly Studies in Heredity |
What is meant by the terms “true breeding,” homozygous, and heterozygous? |
Individuals when bred to others of the same genotype produce only offspring of that genotype; this is called true breeding. When two inherited alleles are alike, they are said to be homozygous individuals (AA, aa), an example of true breeding; if the two members of the allelic pair are different, the combination is said to be heterozygous individuals (Aa; also called hybrid).