Figure 2

Illustration of a typical protein-coding gene. The promoter sequence regulates the process of messenger RNA (mRNA) production. mRNA is the template from which proteins are translated by matching of amino acids to the mRNA sequence. The gene is divided into exons (yellow), which are the coding regions for the amino acids in the protein. The untranslated regions (red) are found at either end of the mRNA and have various regulatory functions affecting mRNA expression and protein translation; because these regions appear in the mature mRNA molecule, they are also classified as exon sequences. Introns (blue) are found in the primary transcript and are spliced out to form the mature mRNA molecule. Sequences flanking each exon direct the splicing process. Additional elements regulating mRNA production can be found both within introns as well as outside of the gene. Genetic variation in any of the functional regions may alter either protein structure or expression.