Question

The gene that codes for albumin protein in humans is 25,000 base pairs from the beginning of the protein coding sequence to the end of the protein. However, the mRNA for this protein is only 2100 base pairs long. What could account for the large difference

Answer 1

Answer:

RNA splicing

Explanation:

RNA splicing is the mechanism by which messenger RNA precursors (pre-mRNAs) are processed to generate mature mRNA transcripts in eukaryotic genomes. During RNA splicing, the non-coding regions of the pre-mRNA sequence (i.e., introns) are removed, while coding regions (i.e., exons) are joined together. In consequence, the resulting mature mRNA is shorter than the pre-mRNA. RNA splicing reactions are catalyzed by the spliceosome, an RNA-protein complex that removes introns from the pre-mRNA. After RNA splicing, the mature mRNA is used as template to produce a specific amino acid sequence, where triplets of RNA nucleotides (codons) in the mRNA are used to assemble specific amino acids in order to form a protein.