Genetics

Genes and the proteins they make, and what those proteins actually do.

Learning resources

Learn.Genetics (Website) — the University of Utah's free science library — genetics and epigenetics plus cell biology, plants, ecology, evolution, human health, neuroscience, and a set of virtual labs, all illustrated and aimed at the curious rather than the credentialed.

• Basic Genetics (Interactive) — DNA, genes, chromosomes, and inheritance from the ground up.
• Epigenetics (Interactive) — how the same genome gets read differently, and what the environment has to do with it.
• The Human Microbiome (Interactive) — the bacteria living on and in us, and the jobs they do.
• Pigeon Breeding: Genetics at Work (Interactive) — selective breeding explained through the birds Darwin used to make the same point.

Reading

• DPP6 (Article) — a brain protein shaped exactly like a protein-cutting enzyme but missing the one residue it would need to cut anything; instead it moonlights as a regulator of potassium channels in neurons.