What is the relationship between DNA, genes, chromosomes, etc?
In: Biology
**DNA** – type of polymer (material made up of many small sub-units) that are composed of a sort of “alphabet” (nucleotides, A/T/C/G), with and without additional modifications at each location to also influence how it’s read (epigenetics). They store not only information, but also sequences that can just modify how the DNA surrounding it is read and transcribed into protein, and how fast.
**Genes** are specific segments of DNA that code for a specific thing. You can have a very long sequence of DNA, but there will be, essentially, functional sub-units/spans within that that actually code for a specific protein. These regions are labelled as specific genes, and usually you have two of each, one for each parent.
**Chromosomes** are specific, separate molecules of DNA. All the DNA in your cells aren’t connected into a single very long molecule, but potentially dozens of very long molecules that become a sort of spaghetti-soup in the nucleus, with distinct regions that are read or not-read/condensed/blocked. These chromosomes can condense to become more readily seperable during cell division.
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