Interrupted gene

A Mosaikgen is an obsolete term for a eukaryotic gene, in contrast to prokaryotic genes also contains non-coding sections called introns.

Coding sequences are DNA segments, which are translated by the transcription into RNA by the ribosome in the amino acid sequence of a protein. The introns are spliced ​​after transcription of DNA to RNA from the primary transcript. Intron RNA freed from protein coding RNA is termed messenger RNA (mRNA). This is subjected to further modifications, such as the capping and polyadenylation.

Mosaic refers in this case to the structure of the original gene (for example, exon-intron - exon-intron - exon ). Mosaic genes can be translated by alternative splicing to different proteins.

In 1977, Phillip A. Sharp and Richard J. Roberts were able to show for the first time that eukaryotic genes do not consist of a single continuous coding nucleotide sequence. Both were then in 1993 the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine " for their discovery of mosaic genes."