[W]hat does DNA do? As biological molecules go, not very much. - Denis Noble

Proteins are produced in tiny factories inside the cells... Biologists call them ribosomes. ...A DNA sequence that corresponds to the relevant protein sequence is copied onto another molecule... called a 'messenger', which transmits a form of the sequence to the ribosomes. The messenger molecules, called ... are another kind of sequence. The DNA sequences are... a kind of template... sequence of s... transcribed to produce the message... translated into an amino-acid sequence when the protein is made. (s are the units of which protein is made, just as nucleotides are the units of which DNA is composed).

[W]e are far from certain what a gene is... many of the confusions and misrepresentations of biology arise from mixing up different definitions of genes and genetics.

[T]here is no one-to-one correspondence between genes and biological functions. Strictly... to speak of a 'gene for x' is always incorrect.