What term is used for one of the alternative forms of a gene that determines specific traits?

The term used for one of the alternative forms of a gene that determines specific traits is 'allele.' Alleles are variations of a gene that can produce different phenotypic traits, such as flower color in plants or blood type in humans. For instance, for the gene that determines flower color, one allele may code for red flowers while another allele may code for white flowers.

Understanding the concept of alleles is crucial in genetics, as it highlights how variations contribute to the diversity of traits observed within a population. Each individual inherits two alleles for each gene, one from each parent, which can be the same (homozygous) or different (heterozygous). This combinatorial nature of alleles underlies many patterns of inheritance, including dominance and recessiveness.

In contrast, the other terms do not relate to gene variations: monomers are the building blocks of polymers, which are large molecules composed of repeated subunits; a genome is the complete set of genetic material in an organism; and polymers refer to complex molecules made of long chains of repeating units, which are not specific to traits but rather to the structure of molecules.