(Biology)(in informal use) a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring (生)非正式遗传因子 divorce is determined by your genes. 离婚是你们家遗传的。 ■(in technical use) a distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize (技)基因
语源
early 20th cent.: from German Gen, from Pangen, a supposed ultimate unit of heredity (from Greek pan- 'all' + genos 'race, kind, offspring')