heterozygous

English

Etymology

From hetero- +‎ -zygous.

Adjective

heterozygous (not comparable)

1. Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene.
   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

Related terms

• heterozygote
• homozygote
• homozygous

Translations

Of an organism which has two different alleles of a given gene

• Finnish: eriperintäinen, heterotsygoottinen
• French: hétérozygote (fr)
• Irish: heitrisigeach
• Italian: eterozigote (it)

• Portuguese: heterozigoto (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-chuingeach
• Spanish: heterocigótico