So far weve talked about what DNA is, and how it can be used to instruct our cells on what proteins to make and ultimately, what traits each of us should have. Today, we are going to talk about DNA inheritance. Inheritance is the reason why a child resembles both the mother and the father. Often, some features of the child may look more like their mother’s (e.g. they have their mothers nose), while in regards to others, they will take more after their father (e.g. they have their father’s eyes). This similarity is not limited to external features alone, but applies to all of the childs characteristics. For example, cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in a gene known as CFTR. If the child inherits this mutated gene from both the mother and father, then the child will develop cystic fibrosis. However, if the child only inherits one mutated gene, they won’t develop the disease. With this example, you can begin to understand the importance of understanding how DNA is inherited. Not only can we use this knowledge to understand why Timmy has red hair like his father, but also so that we can predict and try to minimize or prevent the negative effects of a wide range of genetic disorders. Check out this video by the BBC which describes the history of our understanding of inheritance, as well as what we know now: https://youtube/watch?v=K3F5BV82Lg8 And if you want a more detailed (but still easily digestible) video explaining this process, take a look at this excellent Crash Course Biology video: https://youtube/watch?v=CBezq1fFUEA Hope you learned something today! Pay attention to your newsfeed tomorrow to find out about how the environment impacts the genes we express!
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:55:07 +0000
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