Related topics: proceedings of the national academy of sciences , cells , protein , gene expression , fruit flies
Gene
hideA gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cells and pass genetic traits to offspring. A modern working definition of 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 " . In common usage, the term gene often refers to what is known more accurately as an allele.
The notion of a gene has evolved with the science of genetics, which began when Gregor Mendel noticed that biological variations are inherited from parent organisms as specific, discrete traits. The biological entity responsible for defining traits was termed a gene, but the biological basis for inheritance remained unknown until DNA was identified as the genetic material in the 1940s. All organisms have many genes corresponding to many different biological traits, some of which are immediately visible, such as eye color or number of limbs, and some of which are not, such as blood type or increased risk for specific diseases, or the thousands of basic biochemical processes that comprise life.
In cells, a gene is a portion of DNA that contains both "coding" sequences that determine what the gene does, and "non-coding" sequences that determine when the gene is active (expressed). When a gene is active, the coding and non-coding sequences are copied in a process called transcription, producing an RNA copy of the gene's information. This piece of RNA can then direct the synthesis of proteins via the genetic code. In other cases, the RNA is used directly, for example as part of the ribosome. The molecules resulting from gene expression, whether RNA or protein, are known as gene products, and are responsible for the development and functioning of all living things.
In more technical terms, a gene is a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance, and 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. A concise definition of a gene, taking into account complex patterns of regulation and transcription, genic conservation and non-coding RNA genes, has been proposed by Gerstein et al.: "A gene is a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products".
For more information about Gene, read the full article at
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News tagged with genes
Gene Hijacked By HIV Ancestor Suggests New Way to Block Viral Reproduction
15 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An ancestor of the AIDS virus hijacked an entire gene, perhaps from some prehistoric cat it had infected, a gene that makes it much better able to infect humans, according to a study published ...
Study finds new relationship between gene duplication and alternative splicing in plants
17 hours ago |
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University of Georgia scientists looking to understand the genetic mechanisms of plant defense and growth have found for the first time in plants an inverse relationship between gene duplication and alternative ...
Type 2 diabetes gene predisposes children to obesity
21 hours ago |
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Pediatric researchers have found that a gene already implicated in the development of type 2 diabetes in adults also raises the risk of being overweight during childhood. The finding sheds light on the genetic origins of ...
Genetic variations indicate risk of recurrence, secondary cancer among head and neck cancer patients
19 hours ago |
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Eighteen single-point genetic variations indicate risk of recurrence for early-stage head and neck cancer patients and their likelihood of developing a second type of cancer, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson ...
Male and female shopping strategies show evolution at work in the mall
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Male and female shopping styles are in our genes---and we can look to evolution for the reason. Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often ...
Study shows gene positions may aid cancer diagnosis
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Certain genes switch their nuclear position in tumor cells, offering a potential new method of diagnosing cancer, say researchers from the National Cancer Institute. The study by Meaburn et al. will be published ...
Why we outlive our ape ancestors
Dec 02, 2009 |
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In spite of their genetic similarity to humans, chimpanzees and great apes have maximum lifespans that rarely exceed 50 years. The difference, explains USC Davis School of Gerontology Professor Caleb Finch, is that as humans ...
New gene findings will help guide treatment in infant leukemia
Dec 05, 2009 |
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Pediatric oncologists have identified specific genes, dubbed partner genes, that fuse with another gene to drive an often-fatal form of leukemia in infants. By more accurately defining specific partner genes, researchers ...
Scientists find clue to mystery of biological clock
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 30, 2009 |
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How does our biological system know that it is supposed to operate on a 24-hour cycle? Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that a tiny molecule holds the clue to the mystery.
Western diets turn on fat genes
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Those extra helpings of gravy and dessert at the holiday table are even less of a help to your waistline than previously thought. According to a new research report recently appearing online in The FASEB Journal, a diet t ...
Scientists get up close to bacteria's toxic pumps
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Scientists are building a clearer image of the machinery employed by bacteria to spread antibiotic resistance or cause diseases such as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and legionnaires' disease.
Scientists discover gene module underlying atherosclerosis development
Dec 04, 2009 |
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By measuring the total gene activity in organs relevant for coronary artery disease (CAD), scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have identified a module of genes that is important for the recruitment ...
Mice holding back muscular dystrophy research
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Humans and mice have previously unknown and potentially critical differences in one of the genes responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have found that t ...
Knockouts in human cells point to pathogenic targets
Nov 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Whitehead researchers have developed a new approach for genetics in human cells and used this technique to identify specific genes and proteins required for pathogens.
Acute stress leaves epigenetic marks on the hippocampus
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are learning that the dynamic regulation of genes -- as much as the genes themselves -- shapes the fate of organisms. Now the discovery of a new epigenetic mechanism regulating genes in the brain ...
