By Cindy Grigg
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Directions: Fill in each blank with the word that best completes the reading comprehension.
Scientists who study genetics study genes and heredity: how certain characteristics are inherited by offspring because their parents had these characteristics. Do you have the same eye color as your mother or father? Do twins "run" in your family? These characteristics, or traits, are inherited. They are passed from your parents to you by genes. Genes (1) ____contain________ DNA that occupies a (2) _________specific_________ place on a chromosome. DNA (3) ___________Determines____________ a specific trait in the (4) ____________organism___________ . Even the fact that you were born a boy or a girl was determined by genes. DNA is found in the (5) __________nucleus_____________ of each cell. When a baby is made, one cell from the father joins with one cell from the mother. This tiny cell (6) __________contains_____________ all the information stored in DNA to make a new person - you! If you are a boy, you were given DNA from your father containing a "y" chromosome. If you are a girl, you were given DNA from your father (7) _________containing______________ an "x" chromosome. Your mother could only give you an x chromosome. Girls have two x chromosomes, and boys have an x and a y chromosome. The information in the DNA you inherited from your parents also (8) __________determine____________ what color of eyes you would have, the color of your hair, the type of ear lobes you have, and whether or not you can roll your tongue. The first geneticist was Gregor Mendel. In 1865 he published a paper describing experiments he did with garden peas. He noticed that certain traits in the parent