Where does DNA live?
Most people inherit a set of 23 chromosomes from each of their parents (for a total of 46). Each chromosome contains special stretches of DNA called genes. Genes “tell” the cell how to make the thousands of proteins in your body. Your genes are responsible for the millions of activities going on in your body right now. What Does DNA Do? Everyone’s DNA is slightly different from everyone else’s. (Very slightly 99.9% of our entire DNA is exactly the same. It’s the 0.1% that makes each person different.) Compare your hair, eye and skin color to those around you. Your genes have “told” your cells to make certain proteins. Proteins also help digest food, carry oxygen throughout your body, and attack foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. Because your DNA determines how each protein will be made, it is really the structure of your DNA that controls most of your physical features and bodily functions. In other words, your DNA makes you unique, different from every person living now
