Gene Degradation

Gene Degradation

A gene is a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance, which is associated with regulatory regions, transcribed regions and/or other functional sequence regions. The physical development and phenotype of organisms can be thought of as a product of genes interacting with each other and with the environment.

RNA Genes

In some cases, RNA is an intermediate product in the process of manufacturing proteins from genes. However, for other gene sequences, the RNA molecules are the actual functional products. For example, RNAs known as ribosome’s are capable of enzymatic function, and miRNAs have a regulatory role. The DNA sequences from which such RNAs are transcribed are known as RNA genes.

Gene Expression

In all organisms, there are two major steps separating a protein-coding gene from its protein: first, the DNA on which the gene resides must be transcribed from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA), and second, it must be translated from mRNA to protein. RNA-coding genes must still go through the first step, but are not translated into protein. The process of producing a biologically functional molecule of either RNA or protein is called gene expression, and the resulting molecule itself is called a gene product.