What is the difference between genetics and hereditary

When your doctor tells you that your condition is genetic, you may feel nervous about your family members: Are they at risk as well?

In fact, you might even hear people use them interchangeably; however, they are not exact synonyms. Genetic diseases refer to any condition caused by one or many gene mutations, as opposed to a disease caused by an infection like the flu or a deficiency of nutrients like scurvy.

Your genes can break or alter, causing them to no longer function like normal. Examples of genetic disease include Down syndrome, cancers, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases like psoriasis or inflammatory bowel disease. All of these involve gene mutations—although they may occur in different ways and affect different parts of the body.

For example, smoking can cause gene mutations that lead to lung cancer, and UV radiation can cause gene mutations in the skin that leads to skin cancer. But some gene mutations are inherited from parents—a hereditary disease. Not everyone who inherits a gene mutation will get that disease, but they are at a higher risk of developing it.

For that reason, you can also get a hereditary disease that your parents never had—they were merely carriers. But, all of the characters are not passed to offspring and all the characters found in the offspring are not from parental genes. During the reproduction, genes are shuffled during gametogenesis , the process of gamete formation. Hence, the offspring receives shuffled collection of genes that determine the appearance and the behavior of the individual.

Also, changes in DNA structure during and after the reproduction process due to various intrinsic and environmental factors will affect the overall look and behavior. This is why we are similar to parents and kin yet different from each other. This whole process itself is the Heredity. Genetics is simply the study of Heredity. However, it cannot simply be defined as such. Because the area of Genetics is as massive as studying biology.

Geneticists, the people who study genetics, have developed theories and tools to study the aspects of genetics. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.

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