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leikevy asked in Science & MathematicsBiology · 1 decade ago

What does a gene produce?

I've heard that the definition of the genes change a bit - I heard that it produces a protein some years ago and then in a current article, it says it produces an enzyme.

Yet, translation only produces Amino acid chains (making proteins) while not all proteins are enzymatic.

Can anyone explain the current, mainstream definition of a gene?

Update:

signius - I appreciate you answering but I just have a question about your definition. Doesnt that limit the definition of genes to chemicals based on their chemical composition and structure? well, i guess theres nothing wrong with that either ... idk

4 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    most of gene will be transcribe to mRNA then translate to protein( mostly enzymes) but gene also trancribe to tRNA and rRNA (some called ribozyme( is emzymes but no protein, is the polynucleotides that can act as enzymes.) , so we can't said gene only produce protein(or enzymes) some protein are no enzymes, and no all enzyme are protein.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Genes are just a sequence of nitrogenous bases. [Yup, that's the definition, the rest is just for general knowledge.] These can be either DNA or RNA, depending on the species. For example, humans have only DNA for their genes (mitochondrial genetic material is not considered here), while some viruses have RNA for their genes.

    What a gene produces is not really part of the definition, but helps you to understand what the gene is for. Basically the gene can undergo replication, where the genes produce copies of themselves to be passed on to offspring. Or they can undergo transcription, where mRNA is produced. These mRNA is then processed and sent out of the nucleus of the cell to produce proteins via translation. These proteins can include things like amino acid chains, enzymes, muscle fibres, plasma proteins and a whole lot of other stuff. It's sometimes useful to think of genes as the books in a library, transcription to form mRNA as photocopying the books to get copies of your own, while translation to get proteins can be thought of as using the copies of the books as blueprints to build your very own machine.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    A gene is a string of DNA that produces a particular protein or enzyme (enzymes are proteins). Once the amino acids chain that form that particular protein is completed, it marks the end of the gene.

  • 1 decade ago

    it produces enzymes &proteins, i dont know anything else

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