DNA, Chromosomes & Genes

Learning Objectives To understand that cells are the basic building blocks for all living things To be able to relate the structure of DNA to genes and chromosomes

cells are the basic building block for us! Like bricks are the basic building blocks for houses,

Here is an image of cells taken using a light microscope

Now lets have a look at another cell taken using a much stronger microscope… This is a cell from the human intestines

Inside our cells is a nucleus

This darker area is the nucleus

Like a recipe that gives the instructions to make a cake, the nucleus gives the cell the instructions to make the things it needs!

It is our DNA stored in the nucleus that gives these instructions This is what our DNA looks like

Our DNA is very long So how does it all fit into the nucleus? ?

It is stored in chromosomes

Here is a picture of a pair of pig chromosomes, we can see them because they have been made to fluoresce.

This is a picture of a male pig’s full set of chromosomes Pigs have 19 chromosome pairs in total

Here are some human chromosomes inside a cell, which have also been made to fluoresce Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in total

Different bits of the chromosomes do different things. ] l These different bits are called genes.

We have 2 copies of every gene, we get one copy from our dad and the other from our mum.

like what colour hair to have, what colour eyes to have & whether to be left or right handed. Different genes tell us different things,

Genes are very particular, like phone numbers - if you get a number wrong they won’t work!

errors ______ are the basic building blocks for life. Inside each ______ is one ______. Our ______ is stored in the nucleus. Our DNA is very ______ so it is stored in ______. Different bits of chromosomes are called ______. Different genes tell our bodies ______ things. We have ______ copies of every gene. ______ in our genes cause problems. Fill in the blanks using the words at the bottom: DNAnucleuscellschromosomesgenescelllongdifferenttwo

Traffic light I understand that cells are the basic building blocks for all living things I can relate DNA to genes and chromosomes Are you red, amber or green?

Slide show produced by Chloe Williams. Kindly funded by : Image Credits: Cell and chromosome images kindly provided by Dr. Mar Carmena, Dr. Jim Selfridge and Dr. Heather McQueen from the University of Edinburgh