What are Genes?
All living organisms has genes. Genes are like ingredients that determines how an organism conducts itself in its environment, how it looks, and what it is like. They are segments of a chromosome , or the recipe that makes up a living thing, that are in DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Humans contain almost about 23,000 genes and have 23 pairs of chromosomes-making it a total of 46. There are four different nucleotide bases (chemicals) that a gene consists of to make long strands of chromosomes. The four nucleotide bases are:
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Various combinations of these letters give people various characteristics which makes up who we are. Our genes decide everything about us and program us. To name a few things that genes decide for us are:
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As we can see in this picture, no one looks alike. This is all because of genes, that make us all so unique and beautiful in our own way! |
So...where can we get these genes?
So now where exactly do we get these genes, or ingredients from? We obtain our genes from our parents, who pass down genetic information to their offspring! Our cells contain two sets of chromosomes. One of our set comes from the mother and the other one comes from the father. The female egg and the male sperm both carry a set of 23 chromosomes.22 of these are autosomes, and then we have the X or Y sex chromosome that determines the gender of the offspring. Females inherit the X chromosome from each parent, however males inherit the X chromosome from the mother, and the Y chromosome from the father.
Think you need some more information about what genes are? Watch this video for more on genes! | This video below will provide you more information on where genes come from! Click the video to learn more! |
