Genetics > What Makes You, YOU

>>BOY: Genetics is fun! So much to learn! OOOh! But I have one concern. I have searched and searched… You’ve got to help me! Where are my genes? Spill the beans!

>>WOMAN: What makes you, you? What makes me, me? A lot is due to heredity. Your genes control what makes you, you, from the color of your hair to the size of your shoe.

Dogs and frogs are made of cells. Bananas have them, too. These teeny-tiny building blocks even make up you!

This thing here is the nucleus. It’s small but even so: it tells the cell what to do, it really runs the show.

Then, there are your chromosomes, they are 46 in all. Hall from mom, and half from dad, they are really, really small.

Your chromosomes are shaped like coils. They always come in pairs. They’re made of stuff called DNA, that’s shaped like spiral stairs.

Genes are sections of DNA, where many traits are placed. Learning what each gene controls is the puzzle experts face.

DNA is made of four bases. We call them G, C, A, and T. These bases are in every plant and animal you see!

>>BOY: I get it now! What makes you, you, what makes me, me, shapes every living thing you see. We are all related in a way because we all have DNA!