if all the genes in our body are the same how come we have so many different cell types that perform different functions?

Question

if all the genes in our body are the same how come we have so many different cell types that perform different functions?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Not all genes are used in every cell.

Imagine I gave 3 people a general housekeeping book (this is DNA in my metaphore) which contains: recipes, cleaning tips and, sewing instructions etc.

Then I asked one person to bake a cake, one person to do laundry and one person to re-sew a button onto a shirt using the info in the book.

They all have the same total information, but they look at different parts of the book for instructions.