gene Related Biological Terms

The biosynthesis of glucose from smaller, non-carbohydrate, metabolites, i.e. amino acids, tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, lactate or glycerol.

Descriptive of a diversity according to some criterion for detecting it; e.g. a mixture of proteins or polynucleotides of differing electrophoretic mobility, size or sequence. Heterogeneity is contrasted with homogeneity, a uniformity according to some criterion. (see also heterogenous)

hnRNA; the unprocessed DNA transcripts, which includes pre-mRNAs.

see heterogeneous

A strategy for identification of receptor-binding regions of a protein by substitution of analogous regions from homologous proteins in order to preserve the native three-dimensional structure of the original protein; e.g. the substitution of regions of human growth hormone with regions from pig growth hormone, human prolactin or human placental lactogen, followed by determination of binding constants for the constructs. Learn more about amino acid chart.

(= transposon)

A method to construct a site-specific mutated gene and to select it away from the wild-type. A strain of E. coli with only weak dUTPase activity has high levels of dUTP and consequently incorporates dUTP into a plasmid DNA in competition with dTTP. This plasmid is used in an in vitro system as a template for DNA synthesis with a primer into which the desired mutation has been incorporated. The duplex, containing the wild-type sequence with Us replacing Ts (U-DNA) complementary to a strand with the usual DNA bases and incorporating the mutation, is introduced into a wild-type bacterium that can remove the inappropriate bases from, and thus inactivate, the U-DNA strand and leave the mutated strand to be replicated. Recommended reading: next generation sequencing

(see monodisperse)

A transposon or an insertion sequence; a polynucleotide sequence that can move from a chromosome or plasmid to another chromosome or plasmid. (see also intron homing; protein splicing)

The term multigene family is broadly used to include groups of genes from the same organism that encode proteins with similar sequences either over their full lengths or limited to a specific domain. DNA duplications can generate gene pairs. If both copies are maintained in subsequent generations, then a multigene family will exist. A multigene family is a member of a family of related proteins encoded by a set of similar genes. Multigene families are believed to have arisen by duplication and variation of a single ancestral gene. Examples of multigene families include those that encode the actins, hemoglobins, immunoglobulins, tubulins, interferons, histones, etc. The significance of recognizing multigene families is that the members may have related functions. Genes that are identical or nearly identical in sequence and regulation can be considered to encode isoforms rather than members of a multigene family.