Get extended access to 1600+ episodes, binge watch your favorite shows, and stream anytime - online or in the PBS app.
Already a WUCF member?
You may have an unactivated WUCF Passport member benefit. Check to see.
Special | 2m 14s | Video has closed captioning.
We know that genes are the instructions that make us who we are, but how do genes do that? This episode gives a quick glance into how those mysterious instructions buried in a gene become the actual nose on a face.
Aired: 04/01/20
From:
(gentle music) (bell rings) - Can I help you?
- Yeah, can I get a donut?
- Anything else?
- How about a new nose?
This one keeps bumping into stuff.
- You can't pick your nose.
- I'm not picking my nose.
- No, I mean it's your DNA that picks your nose.
- Huh?
- I'm glad you asked.
It's like this.
- Oh.
- This is a cell.
- That looks like a jelly donut.
- [Shopkeeper] Inside every cell is a nucleus.
- [Customer] Ooh.
- In every nucleus is your DNA.
- Looks delicious.
- DNA contains thousands of instructions called genes.
- Um.
- Which would give your nose its specific shape, color, flavor.
- Can I get one of those?
- Did you ask how do these genes actually make a nose?
- Uh, no, I-- - Protein, your nose is made of protein, like a donut is made of dough.
- [Customer] Oh.
- It works like this.
- Oh.
- A gene sends a message to its cells factories to produce a protein, but not just any protein.
It takes a lot of different kinds of proteins to make a nose.
Some proteins make the nose big, some make it red, some make it flexible, and some just hold it all together.
Genes also tell cells to divide and grow so that even more of those proteins are made.
All that builds up, creating that trademark honker of yours.
- Hm.
- And that's how your DNA picks your nose.
- Uh.
- And all the other parts of your body.
Any questions?
- Uh, can I please just get a donut?
- Oh, sorry.
We're out.
[Customer] - Hm.
(jazz music)
The Gene.
Explore Free Resources
Animated Series
What the heck is a gene, anyway? This animated series won’t get you a PhD, but it does clear up a few mysteries about how genes work and what they might look like in the future. (Microscope not required.)
Watch Now
