heterozygosity

American

[het-er-oh-zahy-gahs-i-tee] / ˌhɛt ər oʊ zaɪˈgɑs ɪ ti /

noun

plural

heterozygosities

Genetics. the quality or fact of being heterozygous.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This provided the first-ever evidence of heterozygosity -- two versions of a gene -- preserved in proteins that are 2 million years old.

From Science Daily • Nov. 1, 2025

"This is evidenced by a high level of inbreeding and a reduction in heterozygosity."

From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2024

LOH, loss of heterozygosity; NA, not available. c, Bar graph depicting the proportion of cases per subgroup for which at least one driver event could be assigned.

From Nature • Jul. 18, 2017

Despite the strong bias towards heterozygosity in these regions, a small proportion of either homozygous haplotype was always present, suggesting that there are genetic backgrounds in which homozygosity of any particular gene is not lethal.

From Nature • Jun. 10, 2014

Therefore, populations of pygmy mice occurring to the south in central M�xico might be expected to maintain a relatively high degree of heterozygosity in morphological and behavioral characters.

From Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys by Packard, Robert L.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023