3rd Part

Genes and Chromosomes 🧬

You can think of a gene as a specific segment of the DNA molecule. Each gene contains the instructions for making a particular protein or for a specific trait, like eye color or blood type. In our instruction manual analogy, if the entire DNA molecule is the whole book, then each gene is a single, complete recipe.

A chromosome is a tightly coiled and packaged structure of DNA and proteins. If the DNA is the long, string-like recipe book, then the chromosome is a neatly bound chapter of that book. This packaging allows the long strands of DNA to fit inside the nucleus of a cell. Humans typically have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46.

Now that we've covered the basics, would you like to discuss how genetic information is passed down from parents to their children, or move on to a new topic?