The key role of genes is to provide the instructions for making proteins. Proteins are the building blocks of the body and serve important functions like tissue repair and helping blood to clot.
Think of DNA as the language used in your genetic instructions. DNA is made up of components called nucleotide bases, which are like the letters of a word. You must have the correct nucleotide bases in the correct order for the gene to fulfill its intended purpose – producing proteins with normal function.
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. The four nucleotide bases responsible for gene construction are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T). These nucleotides pair up with each other, A with T and C with G.
They can be found in our chromosomes, which contain tens of thousands of known genes. Your chromosomes lie deep within a structure called the nucleus, which acts as the command center of the cells that make up your body.
Human cells typically contain 23 pairs of chromosomes. In males and females, 22 of those pairs look the same. The 23rd pair, also called the sex chromosomes, differs between males and females. Females have two copies of the X chromosome, while males have a single pair of X and Y chromosomes.
