The transmission of the genetic features or characteristics from offspring from the parent is understood as heredity. Heredity is also sometimes referred to as genetics. While conveying the genetic information which is carried by the DNA deoxyribonucleic acid contained in the sex cells to the child from their parents is defined as inheritance.

The genetic traits can be interpreted in different manners in both of these terms and this is what becomes the major differentiating factor in the understanding of heredity and inheritance distinctly. While the phenomenon through which traits are passed onto the next generation from the parents is heredity, the pathway through which genetic characteristics are transferred and expressed in the next generation is inheritance. That is why the hereditary pattern is the chief element in inheritance, and heredity has its chief element as variation.

Heredity

The scientific definition of heredity indicates the fact that a specific trait of an individual is more due to genetic characteristics and not because of the environment. For example, if an individual gets sunburn, which is a result of an environmental condition- exposure to direct sunlight for long, it’s not due to a hereditary character. But the brown eyes of the offspring are due to heredity.

Heredity is also sometimes used with biological inheritance though they are different. Hereditat is the Latin word from which “inheritance” is derived. Various proteins are coded for by the information which is carried in the molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid.  The patterns of life in an individual which you can observe are caused by the proteins interacting with the environmental conditions or environment. Many new forms of life are created by the complex mechanism by which the DNA is reproduced and replicated, leading to organisms mutating and recombining in the course of the process. The deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA is the chief form of heredity whether it be in the bacteria or the big sized eukaryotes.

Key Points

1. The scientist simply understood that there must be some mechanism responsible for the resemblance of the children to their parents until the role of the DNA was known to them. 
2. Predictable traits of lines are created from the animals, the offspring matching with their parents and even the plant life shows similar characteristics passed on from the previous generation.
3. Gregor Mendel was the first scientist to record fully the transmission of traits from one generation to the next in an organism during the period of 1800s. 
4. Mendel lived in a monastery as a friar and he had the chance to grow peas which he did with utmost care. 
5. There were certain observable traits that had a pattern from parent plants to offspring and then he came up with the proposal that different forms of every gene are carried by every organism. 
6. Modern science confirmed the existence of these alleles or genetic variants with the help of molecular techniques.  
7. Today there are many sub-disciplines of genetics and the concept has developed into a broader field of science.

At around the same period, several good scholars were also attempting to grasp the wider context of heredity and the way in which diverse populations of beings might create different species. These were Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, two scientists who independently postulated the theory of evolution. They suggested that individual beings hold information that leads to the development of specific traits. Certain traits are much more advantageous as compared to the other traits, resulting in increased reproduction. The characteristics are passed on from a generation to the offspring, who can also interbreed. Through this process, unique characteristics in a species can grow or diminish.

Inheritance

The phenomenon of the transfer of genetic data from the parents to the offspring is known as inheritance. Most of the modern knowledge of inheritance may be traced back to the work of Gregor Mendel, who was living as a monastery. The modern understanding of genetics is advanced but the groundwork for it was laid down by Gregor Mendel’s investigations.

The deoxyribonucleic acid contained in sex cells transmits data in the form of molecular instructions. The genetic information of parents is joined and transmitted onto one individual during human reproduction. Despite the fact that the child has genetic information from both parents, some traits from each parent will be seen as predominant in the manifestation of various traits.

Key Points

1. Descent is the value of chromosomal variation.
2. Chromosomes, which are also known as succession engines, are responsible for the transmission of genetic information.
3. The genetic data has the traits for the next generation in the form in which the gamete of one generation engages in reproduction.
4. There can be diseases owing to the genetics of the individual, for example, haemophilia.
5. The characteristics of one generation are manifested in the next generation and later on, they are passed to the offspring.

Conclusion

Heredity and inheritance are often used interchangeably in the common language but there is a difference between these two terms. Heredity, often known as genetics, is the transmission of genetic features from parents to children. Inheritance represents the transmission of genetic features and their manifestation from one generation to the next. It’s vital to remember that inherited features are handed on directly from parents to offspring, whereas heritable traits are not always genetic.