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Number of genes and number of proteins in humans


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#1 Ahrenhase

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Posted 07 April 2009 - 10:54 AM

Could someone please explain to me why humans have 30,000-40,000 genes but more than 50,000 proteins. I thought eukaryotic mRNA was monocistronic. I remember learning the answer a while back but I can't remember.

Does it have something to do with the cleaving of certain exons during RNA splicing creating different variations of a protein that are similar but not the same?

#2 dvddecarvalho

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Posted 07 April 2009 - 11:22 AM

Alternative-splicing is your answer.





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