Heterozygous
adj
adj ·5 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene. not-comparable
"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."
Adjective
- 1 having dissimilar alleles at corresponding chromosomal loci wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"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."
Etymology
From hetero- + -zygous.