Gene Expression and Regulation Glossary

A post-transcriptional mechanism in which different exon combinations from the same pre-mRNA produce distinct mature mRNAs.

A three-nucleotide sequence on tRNA that is complementary to an mRNA codon.

The dynamic modification of chromatin structure to regulate access to DNA for transcription.

A three-nucleotide sequence in mRNA that specifies an amino acid or stop signal during translation.

A distant regulatory DNA sequence that increases transcription when bound by activator proteins.

Heritable changes in gene expression not involving alterations to the DNA sequence, often through DNA methylation or histone modification.

A point mutation that creates a premature stop codon, resulting in a truncated and usually nonfunctional protein.

A DNA sequence in a prokaryotic operon where a repressor protein binds to regulate transcription.

A cluster of prokaryotic genes transcribed together under the control of a single promoter and operator.

A DNA sequence upstream of a gene where RNA polymerase and transcription factors bind to initiate transcription.

A gene silencing mechanism in which small RNA molecules (siRNA or miRNA) target complementary mRNA for degradation or translational repression.

A conserved DNA sequence (TATAAA) in eukaryotic promoters that positions the transcription initiation complex.

The process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA template using RNA polymerase.

The process of synthesizing a polypeptide from an mRNA template at the ribosome.