DNA contains the information to make proteins, which carry out all the functions and characteristics of living organisms.
Each protein is encoded by a gene, a specific sequence of DNA nucleotides that specifies how a single protein is to be made and the order and types of amino acids (building blocks of proteins) that must be put together to make a protein.
The particular sequence of amino acids in the chain is what makes one protein different from another and ideal for different functions which include:
Enzymes that carry out chemical reactions (such as digestive enzymes)
Structural proteins that are building materials (such as collagen and nail keratin)
Transport proteins that carry substances (such as oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in blood)
Contraction proteins that cause muscles to compress (such as actin and myosin)
Storage proteins that hold on to substances (such as albumin in egg whites and iron-storing ferritin in your spleen)
Hormones - chemical messengers between cells (including insulin, estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, et cetera)
Protective proteins - antibodies of the immune system, clotting proteins in blood
Toxins - poisonous substances (such as bee venom and snake venom)
