Can one gene make different proteins?
1 Answer
Mar 1, 2018
Yes - see below
Explanation:
Alternative splicing (inclusion and exclusion of certain exons and use of alternative splice sites) is widespread in higher organisms. This results in one gene producing many similiar proteins, but all with potentially different or differentiated functions. These proteins are generally called Isoforms. Many genes should be thought of as not making a single protein, but making a family of protein isoforms.
Some viral genes produce multiple proteins from a single piece of RNA or DNA by utilizing different ribosomal entry sites and using frameshifting to change the codon sequence.
