gene Related Biological Terms

In chemistry, a proton donor that can participate in catalysis. (see also general base; specific acid)

In chemistry, a proton acceptor that can participate in catalysis. (see also general base; specific acid)

Recombination between homologous chromosomes that may occur during meiosis anywhere along their lengths. (see also Holliday model; Meselson-Radding model)

The series of codons of mRNA, each of which specifies a single specific amino acid.

(= code blocker (antisense drug))

An approach to defining the roles of individual factors in a complex system. Mutations in a metabolic pathway or physiological function are selected and the function of the cognate gene product is analysed. First addressed to metabolism in fungi, genetic dissection has more recently been applied to phenomena such as phototransduction in Drosophila retinas. see one-gene one-enzyme hypothesis

A technique for establishing genetic relationships, especially in forensic medicine, by comparison of the occurrence of uncommon genetic markers.

An approach to the identification of the function of a large number of putative genes of a micro-organism, such as may have been uncovered by genome sequencing. A transposable element is inserted into a large number of sites in the genome of the micro-organism, and the mutagenized population is then grown under a wide variety of conditions that may suggest a gene's function. After many population doublings under each set of conditions, the micro-organisms' DNA is extracted and used as a resource for analysis of as many of the putative genes as is desired. PCR primers are constructed to hybridize with the transposable element and with a putative gene. PCR amplification using the primer pair will produce a spectrum of bands on separation by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, one from each mutation that can grow under the set of conditions, i.e. a genetic footprint of the gene. A comparison of the gene's footprints under permissive and restrictive conditions will indicate, by the absence of bands in the latter footprint, those growth conditions that require the function of the gene. Smith, V., Botstein, D. and Brown, P.O. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92, 6479-6483

(see mapping)

A DNA sequence that can be recognized and thus used to characterize the larger DNA sequence and the chromosome in which it occurs.