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roles in the body. They do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids, which are attached to one another in long chains. There are 20 different types of amino acids that can be combined to make a protein. The sequence of amino acids determines each protein’s unique 3-dimensional structure and its specific function. Proteins can be described according to their large range of functions in the body, listed in alphabetical order:
    Examples of protein functions
    Antibody: Antibodies bind to specific foreign particles, such as viruses and bacteria, to help protect the body.
    Enzyme: Enzymes carry out almost all of the thousands of chemical reactions that take place in cells. They also assist with the formation of new molecules by reading the genetic information stored in DNA.
    Messenger: Messenger proteins, such as some types of hormones, transmit signals to coordinate biological processes between different cells, tissues, and organs.
    Structural component: These proteins provide structure and support for cells. On a larger scale, they also allow the body to move.
    Transport/storage: These proteins bind and carry atoms and small molecules within cells and throughout the body.

         This explains how every brain cell and hair cell and heart cell in your body can contain all of your DNA but still perform very specialized functions .
    Lawrence Harper writes:
    Every cell inherits a full nuclear complement of DNA. That is, all cells in the organism have the same potential. In the presence of appropriate external conditions, what underlies the development of multicellular organisms is a progressive, differential production ( expression ) of certain subsets of this genetic potential in different tissues … The features of each tissue type are thus determined by the pattern of gene expression, the genes in the cells that are “turned on” or “off” or show distinctive rates of production of gene products. (Harper, “Epigenetic inheritance and the intergenerational transfer of experience,” p. 344.)
         “Development is chemistry ”: Brockman, “Design for a Life: A Talk with Patrick Bateson.”
         All of this means that, on their own, most genes cannot be counted on to directly produce specific traits . They are active participants in the developmental process and are built for flexibility. Anyone seeking to describe them as passive instruction manuals is actually minimizing the beauty and power of the genetic design.
    Lawrence Harper writes:
    Of particular relevance to the understanding of behavioral ontogeny is the fact that, in the process of development, cellular gene expression can be stably altered in response to conditions outside the organism to permit it to adapt to its environment. That is, not only do cells differentiate (specialize in function) in response to external signals, but once so differentiated, their subsequent functional activity as, for example, nerves or glandular tissue, also can be modified at the molecular level. Probably the most obvious example of such altered activity of specialized cells is the development of immunity to pathogens. (Harper, “Epigenetic inheritance and the intergenerational transfer of experience,” p. 345.)
         “Even in the case of eye color,” says Patrick Bateson, “the notion that the relevant gene is the [only] cause is misconceived, because [of] all the other genetic and environmental ingredients . ” (Italics mine). Bateson, “Behavioral Development and Darwinian Evolution,” p. 149.
       A taste of the complexities behind eye color, from three different sources:
    Iris color was one of the first human traits used in investigating Mendelian inheritance in humans. Davenport and Davenport (1907) outlined what was long taught in schools as a beginner’s guide to genetics, that brown