Gene amplification
Gene amplification: Making multiple copies of a gene. Repeated copying of a gene.
Gene amplification plays a role in cancer cells. A tumor cell amplifies, or copies, DNA segments as a result of cell signals and sometimes environmental events.
Amplification can occur in vivo (in the living individual) or in vitro (literally “in glass”, or in a plastic vessel in the laboratory).
Read Also:
- Gene array analysis
Gene array analysis: A way of analyzing the differential expression of thousands of species of mRNA (messenger RNA) at the same time in two different samples (as, for example, in normal vs. tumor tissue, or at different developmental stages). Gene array analysis involves synthesizing labeled cDNA (complementary DNA) from 2 or more sources, and hybridizing […]
- Gene deletion
Gene deletion: The total loss or absence of a gene. Gene deletion plays a role in birth defects and in the development of cancer.
- Gene duplication
Gene duplication: An extra copy of a gene. Gene duplication is a key mechanism in evolution. After a gene is duplicated, the once-identical genes can undergo changes and diverge to create two different genes.
- Gene expression
Gene expression: The translation of information encoded in a gene into protein or RNA structures that are present and operating in the cell. Expressed genes include genes that are transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA) and then translated into protein, as well as genes that are transcribed into RNA, such as transfer and ribosomal RNAs, but […]
- Gene family
Gene family: A group of genes that are related in structure and often in function. The genes in a gene family are descended from an ancestral gene. For example, the hemoglobin genes belong to one gene family that was created by gene duplication and divergence.