You may have heard that genes are responsible for everything right and wrong with you. Genes determine whether you can tie your shoes, how long your neck is, and whether you pour cereal into the bowl before or after the milk. Even more so, only a tiny difference in your genes determines if you are a human or a chimp.
But do you know what a gene is? Here, I will give a simple (sort of) explanation of what genes are.
A gene is a specific region of your DNA that serves as a blueprint for a specific end product.
What do genes produce?
So, what could this end product be? There are two categories of these products:
- Building blocks of the body: These are known as structural proteins. They’re molecules of various sizes that combine with the nutrients you intake to construct your body. For example, your skin is a body part, but to create it, your body must produce several proteins including elastin and collagen. These proteins are combined with fats and minerals (which are not products of your genes) to create skin.
- Regulators of the body: These are enzymes, hormones, antibodies, non-coding RNAs, and others. They don’t literally “make” your body; they perform crucial tasks. For instance, hemoglobin delivers oxygen to your cells, insulin regulates blood sugar levels, and a lesser-known protein called p53 ensures that your cells divide correctly to prevent cancer.
However, this categorization is a bit simplified (as promised in the title), as some proteins can have both structural and regulatory roles. Good examples are actin and myosin: these proteins help build muscle, but they also contract to move your legs and hips.
Also, not all genes are blueprints for proteins. Some genes are non-protein-coding, but for the purpose of this simplified explanation, let’s just say they also perform important tasks in your body. Whether they are proteins or not doesn’t lessen their importance. They are as vital as proteins. (You can learn more about proteins here)
So, in conclusion, a gene is a fragment of DNA that encodes for a specific end product, which is often a protein, but not always.
If you consider DNA as the blueprint of your body, genes are the individual components of this blueprint, sort of like chapters and paragraphs in a story.
Next up: Genes are blueprints for proteins, got it! But how does it work?
Learn how genes determine your traits.