Nice read so far. :) Just a few minor issues, which I would state differently. [quote="LeeRobinson"]Genome – The entire genetic code of an organism’s DNA. There are millions of loci within a genome. [..] millions of loci are being recombined and millions of loci are being passed from parent to offspring[/quote]

Well, it's not quite millions of loci, but rather tens of thousands. :wink: Still plenty when dealing with multifactorial traits.

[blockquote]Another sex specific influence is mitochondrial DNA, which comes from the mother, but when discussing genetics I will not discuss this in further detail, as it is not found in the nucleus of the cell and is not in the chromosomes. For this reason, I don’t believe mitochondrial DNA is considered to be a portion of the genome, but only the mitochondria of the cells as passed down from the mother.[/blockquote]

All true, but one should not underestimate the huge importance of mtDNA. For one, we're talking about the "power-factories" of the cell here - wouldn't that be kinda important in the context of stamina in working dogs? Moreover, as you already stated correctly, they are EXCLUSIVELY inhereted from the maternal side. This I believe could well serve as an eye-opener for many breeders, who solely rely on the quality of the sires. And lastly, let's not forget that mtDNA is of substantial interest in broader phylogenetics studies. Looking forward to part 2... :) Dan