Genes vs. Proteins: How Your DNA Actually Affects Your Health

Your DNA isn’t your destiny — it’s more like an instruction manual your body uses to build and run itself. Two of the most important players in that process are genes and proteins.

Understanding how they work together helps explain why your genes affect things like metabolism, immunity, brain function, and more.

Genes vs. Proteins

🧬 What Are Genes?

Genes are specific sections of your DNA that contain instructions for building proteins. Each gene provides the code for assembling a chain of amino acids in a specific order.

Think of a gene as a recipe.

🧪 What Are Proteins?

Proteins are the working molecules in your body. They carry out the instructions written in your genes and are responsible for most biological functions.

Your body can:

• Build proteins using instructions from your genes
• Recycle amino acids from the protein-rich foods you eat (like meat, fish, eggs, tofu, and legumes)

Those amino acids become the raw materials your body uses to make its own proteins.

What Do Proteins Actually Do?

Proteins are involved in almost everything happening in your body, including:

• Antibodies

  Help your immune system recognize and neutralize viruses and other threats

• Enzymes

  Speed up chemical reactions that keep your metabolism running

• Messengers

  Transmit signals throughout the body

  • Example: serotonin (neurotransmitter), insulin (hormone)
    • Structural proteins
    • Provide strength and support to cells and tissues
  • Example: collagen, the most abundant protein in the body
    • Transport proteins
    • Move substances across cells and throughout the body

What About “Non-Coding” DNA?

Not all DNA codes for proteins — and that’s a good thing.

Non-coding DNA helps control:

• How much protein is made
• When it’s made
• Where it’s made

Many of the differences between people — including how we respond to food, stress, or medications — come from this regulatory DNA, not just protein-coding genes.

How Are Proteins Made?

Protein production happens in two main steps:

1️⃣ Transcription

When a cell needs a protein, the relevant part of the DNA temporarily unravels. Cellular machinery reads the gene and copies it into a messenger molecule called RNA.

2️⃣ Translation

The RNA leaves the nucleus and is read by other cellular machines, which use it as a blueprint to assemble amino acids into a protein.

In short:

DNA → RNA → Protein

Why This Matters for Your Genetic Results

Your genetic data helps identify:

• Which proteins your body may make more or less efficiently
• How well certain biological pathways function
• Why two people with similar lifestyles can have very different health outcomes

This gene-to-protein relationship is the foundation of personalized health insights.