Structurally, a basic unit of hereditary material; an ordered
sequence of
nucleotide bases that encodes one polypeptide chain (via
mRNA). The gene includes, however, regions preceding and following the coding region (leader
and trailer) as well as (in eukaryotes) intervening sequences (
introns) between individual coding segments (
exons). Functionally, the gene is defined by the
cis-trans test that determines whether independent
mutations of the same
phenotype occur within a single gene or in several genes involved in the same function.
Source:
PAC, 1992, 64, 143
(Glossary for chemists of terms used in biotechnology (IUPAC Recommendations 1992))
on page 154
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
