Protein synthesis

A gene is a section of DNA. It contains instructions to make a specific protein.

Cells make proteins by stringing amino acids together in a particular order.

Only 20 different amino acids are used to make up thousands of different proteins.

The order of the bases in a gene simply tells cells what order to put the amino acids together in:
Each set of three bases (called a triplet) codes for a particular amino acid. E.g. TAT codes for tyrosine and GCA for alanine. If the order of the bases in a gene is TAT-GCA-TAT, then the order of amino acids in the protein will be tyrosine-alanine-tyrosine.

DNA also determines which genes are switched on or…