Genes have information that you get from your parents' genes. This information determines how you body is made. Every human has about 25,000 genes. Genes are packed into chromosomes. Each cell in our body contains a copy of these chromosomes.
We have 23 different pairs of chromosomes. In each of these pairs there is one chromosome from you mom and one from your dad. Out of the 23 chromosomes one pair is a sex chromosome. These chromosomes determine whether you are a boy or a girl. They also give you some of your body characteristics. The other 22 pairs of chromosomes determine what you look like, how your body reacts to things like allergies, diseases, and cancers too.
Some researchers found out that some of our genes can cause some disorders. And as I said before they can make you more likely to get certain types of cancers or diseases.
Interesting facts!
-Cows have 30 pairs or chromosomes
-Chickens have 39 pairs of chromosomes
-Bananas have 11 pairs of chromosomes
-Chimpanzees have 24 pairs of chromosomes
Did you know that chimpanzees are really closely related to us? They are so closely related that they share 98% of our DNA! 99.5% of our DNA is the same as other humans. So if you think about it chimpanzees are only 1.5% different from our DNA! They do look so much more like us then say a dog, zebra, or an aye aye! I'm very glad I don't look like an aye aye personally! :D
Here is my drawing of our DNA:
2 comments:
I think you got your math mixed up there! Two percent different for chimps, right? Now that you mention it, you do look a little like an aye-aye!
No, she doesn't look like an aye-aye!
Great info and drawing. It is interesting that chickens have so many chromosomes.
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