A gene is a sequence of nucleotide pairs that determines the production of a specific product.
Expression of a protein coding DNA requires transcription into mRNA and then translation to form the polypeptide product.
Eukaryotic genes are interrupted by non-coding regions called introns. These are removed by splicing to leave just the coding exons. A 5' cap and a 3' polyA tail are added to form mature RNA.
The genetic code:
- is triplet consisting of 64 3 letter codons
- is degnerate, more than one code can specify an amino acid
- contains an initiation codon (AUG) and three stop codons (UAA, UAG, UGA)
- is universal
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