Pictures Considered #58 by Christoph — When we talk about genes and genomes today, we almost reflexively thinks of long strings of the letters G, A, T, and C. And by reading sequences, we easily detect stretches that code for proteins. We detect promoters, transcription factor binding motifs, start/stop signals for transcription, signals where introns are removed by splicing from primary transcripts...
by Elio — An exome is the collection of exons, the sequences within the primary mRNA transcripts of an organism that are eventually used for making proteins. The rest, non-coding sequences, called introns, are removed by RNA splicing. (Note that there is no 'introme,' at least not yet.)
by Christoph Weigel — In prokaryotes, it only takes a small jazz band to get the music grooving: piano and a rhythm section suffice. The promoter region of a gene is a tiny stage on which RNA polymerase ℗ and few transcription factors (dr, b) improvise on a tune, i.e. they initiate or skip transcription. By contrast, it takes a big band in eukaryotes to perform Duke Ellington's 'Caravan'. And since not all the musicians...
