• Question: how do your genes work

    Asked by kels14 to Carla, Madgie, Nick, Vicky, Werner on 18 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Werner Muller

      Werner Muller answered on 18 Nov 2013:

      This is a very difficult question to answer. A single gene on its own does not work. We need a lot of genes working together. Some of the genes are there to replicate the genes we have. Other genes regulate how the genes we have are replicated. Genes encode for proteins and the proteins will then do what they are made for to do. Some of these proteins we need to get enough energy from food and air to grow. And there is much much more to it….

    • Photo: Marlene Lorgen

      Marlene Lorgen answered on 18 Nov 2013:

      Basically, each gene contains the DNA code for making a protein (but some genes can make more than 1 protein). Through a process called transcription, the DNA is turned into messenger RNA (mRNA) which is then ‘translated’. In the mRNA, the sequence can be seapareted into 3 base bair triplets called codons. In translation, these codons are ‘read’ and bind to a particular amino acid which has an anti-codon on it. In this way a chain of amino acids is formed making a protein. Different proteins have different jobs.

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