Medicine Word Today

Coefficient of inbreeding: A measure of how close two people are genetically to each another. The coefficient of inbreeding, symbolized by the letter F, is the probability that a person with two identical genes received both genes from one ancestor. Take a first-cousin mating. First cousins share a set of grandparents. For any particular gene in the male, the chance that his female first cousin inherited the same gene from the same source is 1/8. Further, for any gene the man passes to his child, the chance is 1/8 that the woman has the same gene and

Inbreeding: The mating of two closely related persons. Also called consanguinity.