Genes: Meaning, Functions, Characteristics, Genetics

Genes are the biological source code that decides everything from your eye color to health risk factors. They are the fundamental hereditary units made of DNA that carry the instructions for the development and functioning of living organisms. Which dictates physical traits and protein synthesis. They exist on chromosomes and function as genetic instructions. They create proteins and controls gene activity like structural genes, regulatory genes, housekeeping genes, and proto-oncogenes.

Recently, the Genome India Project (GIP) was launched by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). This is India's ambitious project to sequence 10,000 genetic samples from across the country. The objective is to build a grid of the Indian reference genome to better understand diseases unique to the Indian population.

An interesting discovery of this century in the field of genes is The CRISPR Revolution. It uses a guide RNA to find a specific spot in the DNA and the Cas9 enzyme to snip it.

• Genes are functional units of heredity as they are made of DNA. The chromosome which contains many genes is made of DNA.
• Each gene has the particular set of instructions for some specific function or protein coding. In common language terms, genes are responsible for hereditary traits.
• There are nearly 30,000 genes in each human body cell; yet, the DNA existing in every gene makes up only 2 percent of the genome.
• Several investigations have been carried out, and most chromosomes have been determined to be the site for almost 13000 genes.
• William Bateson first coined the term genetics in 1905. Later, in 1909, the term GENE was coined by the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen. He named it Gene to represent heredity.

• The human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. A trait is one of the characteristics determined by one or more genes.
• Some traits may also result from abnormal genes or genes formed as mutations anew.
• A gene varies in size according to the code or protein it creates. The same DNA is found in all the cells of the human body.
• Cells differ because different types of genes turn on to produce various types of proteins.

• Genes control the functions of DNA and RNA.
• Proteins are considered the most essential raw materials in the human body. They develop muscles and connect tissue and skin and produce enzymes.
• These enzymes are essential for many chemical activities and for chemical reactions throughout the body.
• Displacement through protein synthesis is hence involved in all bodily activities; most of these activities are controlled by genes.
• Genes are therefore specific instructions or functions. For example, the globin gene is instructed to produce haemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen through the blood.

• In the broader sense, genetics has to do with the study of the genes—trying to say what a gene is and how it works.
• Genes are how traits get from an organism to its ancestors; thus, since children get their genes from their parents, the genes determine their looks.
• Genetics tries to decipher which characteristic gets transferred to another generation and how it is passed down.
• Molecular Biology is the study of the composition, structure, and interaction of cellular molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins-the molecules that conduct biological processes necessary for cell functions and maintenance.
• The European Federation of Biotechnology defines Biotechnology as goes "The integration of natural science and organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services".
• Biotechnology involves techniques related to the use of living organisms or enzymes derived from organisms to produce products and processes of human use. Human applications include in-vitro fertilisation to give rise to a 'test-tube' baby, synthesising and using a gene, developing a DNA vaccine, or gene therapy for correcting a defective one.

• Genetics is a branch of biology that studies heredity and its biological processes, genes, genomes, cell cycles, heredity, inheriting genes, and much more.
• Genetics is the exploration of the working and major codes of variation and heredity.
• The foundation of heredity is inheritance, which is defined as the procedure by which characteristics are passed down from one generation to the next.
• Gregor Johann Mendel is known as the "Father of Modern Genetics" for his discoveries on the basic principles of heredity.
• Variation, as the name suggests, is the dissimilarity between children and their parentages.
• It can be determined to keep in view the behaviouristic, cytological, physiological, and morphological characteristics of individuals fitting into similar species. Some of the significant reasons for variation are:
  • Genetic/Chromosomal rearrangement.
  • Mutated genes due to the influence of the ecosystem.
  • Crossing over.
  • gene silencing

DNA and RNA are used to store genetic information, so there are clear differences between them. The following table summarises the key points:

What are genes?

They are pieces of DNA that carry instructions for making proteins, thereby defining the characteristics inherited from one's parents.

What are the 4 types of genes?

Structural genes, Regulatory genes , Housekeeping genes and Proto-oncogenes.