During the latter half of the 20th century, the fields of genetics and molecular biology matured greatly, significantly increasing understanding of biological heredity. As with other complex and evolving fields of knowledge, the public awareness of these advances has primarily been through the mass media, and a number of common misunderstandings of genetics have arisen. Common misunderstandings include the following ideas : Every aspect of the biology of an organism can be predicted from its genes Single genes  code for specific anatomical or behavioural features Genes are a blueprint of an organism's form and behaviour Genes are uninterrupted sections of DNA that only code for a single protein
During the latter half of the 20th century, the fields of genetics and molecular biology matured greatly, significantly increasing understanding of biological heredity. As with other complex and evolving fields of knowledge, the public awareness of these advances has primarily been through the mass media, and a number of common misunderstandings of genetics have arisen. The following ideas are commonly misunderstood. Each entry is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated: Some aspects of the biology of an organism cannot be predicted from its genes Single genes usually do not code for specific anatomical or behavioural features Blueprints are only a superficial analogy for genes The section of DNA that codes a gene can be interrupted
R
Common misunderstandings include the following ideas : Every aspect
The following ideas are commonly misunderstood. Each entry is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated: Some aspects
R
can
cannot
A
usually do not
R
Genes are a blueprint of an organism's form and behaviour Genes are uninterrupted sections of DNA that only code for a single protein
Blueprints are only a superficial analogy for genes The section of DNA that codes a gene can be interrupted