By Yiwei (Huang Yiwei) from 2302
Hi everyone, I am Yiwei from 2302. It is my great honor to have the opportunity to share with all of you my opinions on genes -- the blueprints of our lives.
Gene is a segment of DNA that contains the instructions for building and functioning of a specific protein or set of proteins. It is the basic units of heredity and are responsible for passing on genetic information from one generation to the next, determining various traits and characteristics of the living organisms.
It can determine our physical appearances which I suppose most of people had already know. Genotype, which is a collective name for all the combination of genes in an organism, along with the environment that we live in, controls our phenotype, the characteristics that are expressed. However, apart from that, genes also play a crucial role in the regulation of biological processes, such as growth, reproduction and death. They control the production of proteins, which are the very elementary building blocks of cells and carry out essential functions in the body. In order to achieve this role, transcriptions and translations occur in our cells. Then by the help of various organelles, the translated amino acid chain is varied and modified into the protein molecules that make our bodies.
Interestingly, many genes in an organism is inactive for much or even all of the time, which means they can be switched on and off in response to various internal and external factors. In human bodies, or all eukaryotic organisms like us, the activity of a gene is regulated by the presence or absence of molecules called transcription factors, which affects the rate of transcription that takes place in our nucleus. And this flexibility allows organisms to respond and adapt to changes in their environment, surviving from the cruel natural selection.
Understanding genes has a great importance for our future lives. Genetic engineering is such a subject that stems from the discoveries about genes, which can be applied to a wide diversity of different fields in the future including medical, agriculture, energy sources and so on. With good utilization of current and future discoveries on genes, our life could be changed significantly in the future.
Thank you.
