proteins

Proteins
What are proteins for?
The DNA sequences carried in each cell are blueprints. They are the instructions that tell the cell how to be part of an animal, plant, fungus or bacterium. Virus genes tell other cells how to make more viruses! The majority of genes are instructions that tell cells how to make proteins. Proteins are the active elements of cells. They aid and control the chemical reactions that make the cell work. They receive signals from outside of the cell. They control the processes by which proteins are made from the instructions in the genes. They also form the scaffolding that gives cells their shape and as well as parts of the linkages that stick cells together into tissues and organs.
Many drugs (both medicinal and illegal!) alter the work done by proteins. There are also a number of important diseases that are the direct result of mistakes in a gene's sequence. These mistakes happen when the DNA is being copied and are passed on to the descendants of the cr...