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Gene (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06) |
 | | Because it is through proteins that genes exert their effects, and because gene transcripts (which are a prerequisite for protein synthesis) degrade rapidly, genes are in a sense inactive when they are not actively being transcribed. |
 | | In common speech, "gene" is often used to refer to the hereditary cause of a trait, disease or condition--as in "the gene for obesity." A biologist, in contrast, might refer to an allele or a mutation that had been implicated in or correlated with obesity. |
 | | For various reasons, the relationship between genes and proteins is not so simple as "one nucleotide sequence-->one amino-acid sequence." For example, cells may splice the transcripts of a gene in alternate ways to produce not one but a variety of proteins (alternative splicing). |
| bopedia.com /en/wikipedia/g/ge/gene.html (1643 words) |