control of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level

This is control of gene expression after transcription

in eukaryotes, what does transcription produce

pre-mRNA / primary mRNA

what does primary mRNA contain? (definitions)

-exons: coding region

-introns: non-coding region [do not code for amino acids]

the primary mRNA needs to be modified before leaving the nucleus.

process of post-transcriptional control

-pre-mRNA is modified

-introns are removed from the pre-mRNA

-exons are joined together

-this produces mature mRNA

-the mature mRNA leaves the nucleus for translation

name of process removing introns and what does it ensure

splicing→ it ensures only coding sections of mRNA are used to form proteins during translation

alternative splicing

exons can be joined together in different combinations→ produces different version of mRNA molecules→ produce different proteins from the same gene

in prokaryotes, mRNA is produced without splicing. There’s no introns in prokaryotic DNA.

the primary mRNA strand is complementary to the DNA template strand