The colour of your eyes, your hair, whether you are good at sport, intelligent, happy by nature, it all depends on your genes.
The colour of your eyes, your hair, whether you are good at sport, intelligent, happy by nature, it all depends on your genes.
Hereditary characteristics
A gene is a little piece of DNA that contains hereditary information. One or more genes decide the colour of your hair or eyes for example. You can pass on these characteristics to your descendants. As well as this, all the genes together take care of the functioning of the organism as a whole (for example a human being). Bacteria are able to exchange genes with each other. This is called conjugation. One bacterium receives genetic material from another via a pilus. This can include genes which make the bacterium resistant to antibiotics for example. So it can be very useful to the bacterium.
Brown-eye code
A gene is made up of a sequence of nucleotides at a position on a chromosome. This sequence of nucleotides codes for a specific protein that expresses a hereditary characteristic, for example brown eyes.
Six thousand genes for one cell
The human genome comprises about 25,000 genes. Amazingly enough, the genome of brewer’s yeast (S. cerevisiae) consists of about 6,000 genes. And this organism is made up of a single cell.