Genes

Genes are what makes an individual to be built with two blue eyes, two arms, one nose, and a brain with certain architecture. Genes are segments of our DNA and the units of our inheritance. A gene consists of four chemical molecules: adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (ACGT). The short chemical name for a chain of any number of these molecules, is DNA.

  • The order that these molecules are in determines the instructions for everything the cell does, much like how the order of letters in written language determine the meaning of the sentence.

The job of genes is to make proteins, the building blocks of life.

Every living thing uses the same genetic code, meaning we can transfer a single human gene into a cat, and the cat can read it and follow its instructions