edHelper.com
Life Science

Genes

Genes
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.41

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    determined, hemophilia, deoxyribonucleic, fertilization, sperm, nucleus, chromosome, clone, characteristic, strands, inherit, coiled, dominant, offspring, heredity, identical

Print Genes
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Genes  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Genes
     Leave your feedback on Genes  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Genes
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     Have you ever seen a cat with a litter of baby kittens when all the kittens look different? Each kitten may have different hair colors, markings, or eye colors. Why? Each kitten received a different combination of genes from its parents.
 
2     Genes are segments of DNA that carry the instructions for the traits of an organism from parents to offspring. Genes are located on chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell. A chromosome is two very tightly coiled strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
 
3     Each type of organism has a fixed number of chromosomes. Humans have 46 chromosomes in every cell of their bodies, except in the egg and sperm cells. Each egg and sperm cell has only 23 chromosomes. When an egg and a sperm cell combine during fertilization, they produce one cell with 46 chromosomes.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper