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( gene)
A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. The field of genetics predates modern molecular biology, but it is now known that all living things depend on DNA to pass on their traits to offspring. Loosely speaking, a gene is a segment of genomic information that must be taken as a whole to define traits. The colloquial usage of the term gene often refers to the scientific concept of an allele. The notion of a gene has evolved with the science of genetics, which began when Gregor Mendel noticed that biological variations were only inherited from parent organisms as specific, discrete traits. For example, if one parent has blue eyes and the other has brown eyes, there is a 3/4 chance that the child will have brown eyes. The biological entity responsible for defining eye color was termed a "gene", but the biological basis for inheritance remained unknown until the discovery of the genetic code in mid 1950s, when genes were determined to be encoded by DNA. 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 certain diseases, or the thousands of basic biochemical processes which comprise life. In cells, a gene is a portion of an organism's DNA which 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 RNA may undergo special post-transcriptional processing steps required to convert it into a mature, functional form. These 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. More technically, 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.[1][2] The physical development and phenotype of organisms can be thought of as a product of genes interacting with each other and with the environment.[3] 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[4] "A gene is a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products".
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gene Subcategories
gene Articles
Growing New Brain Cells - And Wiring Them Up by Simon Evans
Not too long ago, scientists believed that adults couldn’t grow new neurons in their brain. However, work over the last several years has debunked this myth. We now know that adults continue to grow new neurons throughout life, a process called neuro...
Learn General Information on Jogging and the History of Jogging by Jenny Jenkins
Jogging, as an act of running over a distance at a measured pace, has been around since the beginning of man. The earliest cave dwellers who know it was not safe to be out in the wild after dark, knew from the position of the setting sun, when it was...
Learn General Information on Jogging by Jenny Jenkins
Jogging as a form of exercise is difficult to define. Saying that it is form of movement that is faster than walking and slower than running is really meaningless. One generally accepted definition is that running at a speed of 6 mph or slower is jog...
General Advice on Hair Loss Treatment by GYM White
There is absolutely no doubt in the fact that beauty industry is the most powerful industry. You can find millions of people using different beauty products to achieve certain task. Generally, people go on to use some cosmetics to look young and beau...
REGENERATIVE MEDICINE - Researchers Pave The Way For Stem Cell Therapy and Cardiac Disease. by Regenerative Medicine
With stem cell treatment Mexico it has been found that Stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood are more potent and effective to treat heart disease than autologous adult stem cells. Patients who have severe cardiac disease with a history of coro...
How Your Diet Can Outsmart Your Genes -Principles to follow for safe and healthy weight loss by Dr. Robert Graham
Nobody likes to admit it, but the fact remains: Your body wants to store fat. It’s good at it, too. Storing fat is a survival mechanism passed down through your genes from your prehistoric ancestors, when the food supply was unpredictable. Long befor...
Why exercise? Know the benefits of exercising! by Jim Andrews
Wish to live a long and healthy life? Just put on your exercising gear and make your wish come true! For overall health any form of physical activity or exercise is very important. Exercising has manifold benefits both physical as well as mental. Hal...
Try Meltabs for More Sex by stevie teever
Meltabs are the soft tabs prepared by grinding up the original branded Pfizer’s Viagra that is used in the treatment of the erectile dysfunction. The main constituent of the Meltabs is the Sildenafil citrate that works as the inhibitor of enzyme phos...
Facial Treatments Face Off! by Rebecca Hausen
Freckles aren’t my friend. I don’t care if you call them angel kisses or fly specks (thanks dad), to me, freckles mean sun damaged skin. And for millions of women like me, summer’s end means severe sun damage, brown spot pigmentation and dry, fl...
Spinal Fusion For Back Pain Relief - Is It The Final Option for Treating My Back Pain? by Dan Raymond
Back pain sufferers usually want to find a non-surgical procedure for providing back pain relief. Massage, drug therapy, physical therapy, and DRX9000 spinal decompression are some popular non-invasive options. Unfortunately, there are times when s...
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