What are genes primarily made of?

Genes are primarily made of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA serves as the hereditary material in humans and almost all organisms. It consists of two long strands forming a double helix, where the sequence of nucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine) encodes genetic information. Each sequence of nucleotides specifies instructions for building proteins, which play critical roles in the structure and function of cells.

DNA not only contains the information necessary for the development and functioning of living organisms but also gets passed on from one generation to the next during reproduction, ensuring the continuity of genetic information. This makes it the foundational component of genes, as genes are segments of DNA that code for specific proteins or perform regulatory functions.

In contrast, while RNA is involved in the process of translating genetic information from DNA into proteins, it is not the primary material of genes themselves. Proteins, which are crucial for various cellular functions, are synthesized based on the instructions provided by genes within the DNA. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, but they do not constitute genes. Thus, the structure and function of genes are fundamentally tied to their composition of DNA.