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18 Things You Should Know About Genetics
People, bacteria, plants and animals are complex carbon water based cellular forms that carry inheritable genetic information. Genes are the set of instructions passed to you from both parents, exist in almost every cell of your body and are stored on long stands of chemicals called DNA. Long strands of DNA are a part of what makes up a Chromosome. DNA is shaped like a twisted ladder which is called a Double Helix. There are four main chemicals that make up the Double Helix. The order in which the chemicals appear on the Double Helix determines what organism you are from human to plant as well as your physical characteristics. The entire DNA sequence is called a genome and if it were stored on telephone books, it would fill 200 NYC directories! We are all genetically very similar to each other with only 0.1% of our genetic make-up different. Less than 2% of our DNA carries recognizable instructions. Genes make us who we are.
People, bacteria, plants and animals are complex carbon water based cellular forms that carry inheritable genetic information. Genes are the set of instructions passed to you from both parents, exist in almost every cell of your body and are stored on long stands of chemicals called DNA. Long strands of DNA are a part of what makes up a Chromosome. DNA is shaped like a twisted ladder which is called a Double Helix. There are four main chemicals that make up the Double Helix. The order in which the chemicals appear on the Double Helix determines what organism you are from human to plant as well as your physical characteristics. The entire DNA sequence is called a genome and if it were stored on telephone books, it would fill 200 NYC directories! We are all genetically very similar to each other with only 0.1% of our genetic make-up different. Less than 2% of our DNA carries recognizable instructions. Genes make us who we are.