Genes vs. DNA vs. Chromosomes - Instant Egghead #19

Scientific American editor Eric R. Olson untangles the relationship between the most fundamental components of our biology.

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[theoatgodolympus]

Who else was watching this because of their teacher?

[shmrkbutrfly]

Pov: you came to the comment section to see if anyone had the answers to the one science packet

[femdog]

I'm a med student and this was the perfect refresher just before walking into my lecture on genes/chromosomes. Thank you Eric!

[spycat]

I have a bio test tommorow and this has been the hardest unit for me to understand and I get confused a lot between genes and DNA. This helped clear things up!

[calebwhite]

If only that was the case for the rest of out lives

[JohnStephenWeck]

Greetings everyone. Let’s see if I can clarify some of this terminology.

DNA is a chemically based memory system. All memory systems are information storage machines. They all have hardware (a structure of physics particles), and software (the memory contents = pure information) components. Information stored in any memory system is called “software”. All hardware and software systems exist separately in a highly decoupled manner. So the software is separate and independent of the DNA hardware. You don’t need to talk about DNA chemistry when discussing the genome (just like you don’t need to know how paper and ink work in a book, to understand its contained story).

The genome is a software system stored in the DNA memory system. That software provides the intelligence at the core of all cells to manage cellular activities. Eukaryotes simply have a better cellular computer, so they have the power to handle the added complexity of maintaining multi-cellular forms. This is why the Cambrian explosion occurred. There is a big difference in complexity between simply managing a pool of cells, and the construction and maintenance of a multi-cellular organism (like plants, fungi, and animals).

Thanks for listening.

[BillieJolene]

THIS IS THE BEST ONE ON YOUTUBE. So many videos with the same headline and they don't stick to the point. THANK YOU!!!! This has saved me LOADS of

[stellarstories]

Mostly excellent. Except...at the beginning, he refers to the sugar phosphate backbone and then the nucleotides in the middle of DNA strands. Misleading - nucleotides are made up of bases, sugar, and the phosphate group (i.e. bases attached to the sugar-phosphate backbone). Just wanted to note that since we all have picky professors : ). Thanks for posting, this was otherwise very clear.

[jacquelinecammaerts]

Brilliant explanation - clear concise and delivered at the great speed to aid understanding - thank you

[SabirKhan-ivk]

him not going slow😂😂😂 like; if only our life was organized like our body😂😂 bro knows everyone hr has a messed up life

[Thefamiliaguy]

Genes sound like folders containing DNA segments for proteins that could be similiar to files and DNA sounds like the actual code data and finally the Chromosomes are like the disk drives.   

[Naomi-fbej]

A nucleotide can't be arranged along the sugar-phosphate backbone: a nucleotide consists of a phosphate, 5 carbon sugar and nitrogenous base. the sugar and phosphate form the backbone. You're probably talking about the bases, of which there are 4 kinds: adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine

[faithhopelove]

Can I please have an embed code for this video to use in a module I'm developing on a NIFA USDA grant?

[californianicole]

The backbone is sugar AND phosphate. The code is made of nitrogen bases. A nucleotide includes the sugar, phosphate, and nitrogen base.

[chaitanyamohan]

you explain well. but, it's hard to get this topic.

[dudalojogrme]

I sought for a brief explainer of the three DNA, genes and chromosomes, what stayed with me rather was the last things

"So you can see, the blueprint of our lives is well organized, if only that was the case for the rest of our lives?"

[katherinekaplan]

Yeah, still doesn't answer the basic question: which is composed of which? Are chromosomes made of DNA which are made of genes, are chromosomes made of genes which are made of DNA, or something else? How can biology be so imprecise here?!?

[Diallo]

wait wait wait, so the body has essentially "zipped" instructions for proteins? Like file compression?

[TheChinnam]

Wow! Thanks man. Thanks to Scientific American. 

[guerohablandoespanol]

I HATE the way that the DNA is separated at 0:38. It gives a false impression of how DNA is separated into two strands and can be confusing for students.