
What is the smallest unit of heredity?
Answer
414.6k+ views
Hint: heredity is the transfer of biological characters from one generation to the next generation. These are the small sections of a long chain of DNA .They are the basic physical and functional units of heredity. It gives instructions to form a molecule called protein and It carries genetic material with it.
Complete answer:
To answer this question you must know about heredity.
A gene is a discrete linear sequence of DNA which corresponds to heredity character which transfers from one generation to the next generation. In more general terms, one can think of genes as the smallest unit of heredity. They are composed of chains of nucleotide base pairs in specific sequences that code for proteins.
Genes are the fraction or parts of DNA molecules which regards as the genetic material .It is basic physical and functional unit of heredity so by Changing the DNA sequence of gene changes the gene’s function .Such changes are the basis for a variety of heredity character including eye color and skin color. Genes are the part of chromosomes that determine all inherited characteristics .
As DNA is the fundamental unit of genetic material and it is packed with tightly wound structure called chromosomes and genes are the smallest segments of DNA and in heredity genetic material is the DNA, so it has the smallest unit genes which are transferred from one generation to the next generation.
Hence the smallest unit of heredity is genes.
Note:
In humans, genes vary in size from a few hundred DNA bases to more than 2 million bases. An international effort called the human genome project, which worked to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains, and estimate that each cell in the human genome has between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.
Complete answer:
To answer this question you must know about heredity.
A gene is a discrete linear sequence of DNA which corresponds to heredity character which transfers from one generation to the next generation. In more general terms, one can think of genes as the smallest unit of heredity. They are composed of chains of nucleotide base pairs in specific sequences that code for proteins.
Genes are the fraction or parts of DNA molecules which regards as the genetic material .It is basic physical and functional unit of heredity so by Changing the DNA sequence of gene changes the gene’s function .Such changes are the basis for a variety of heredity character including eye color and skin color. Genes are the part of chromosomes that determine all inherited characteristics .

As DNA is the fundamental unit of genetic material and it is packed with tightly wound structure called chromosomes and genes are the smallest segments of DNA and in heredity genetic material is the DNA, so it has the smallest unit genes which are transferred from one generation to the next generation.
Hence the smallest unit of heredity is genes.
Note:
In humans, genes vary in size from a few hundred DNA bases to more than 2 million bases. An international effort called the human genome project, which worked to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains, and estimate that each cell in the human genome has between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.
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