What is the difference between an intron and an exon?

Question

Victoria Angeli · Accepted Answer

Introns and exons are parts of eukaryotic genes .

Exons are interspersed with introns in most eukaryotic genes. The entire gene is first copied into a pre mRNA or heterogenous RNA, during transcription. This includes both exons and introns. Next, during the process of RNA splicing, introns are removed and exons are joined together to form a complete coding sequence. This mature mRNA is ready for translation.

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HIX Tutor · Answer

undefined Great question! Let's break it down step by step.

1. **What are genes?** Genes are like instructions in your body that tell it how to make proteins.

2. **What are exons?** Exons are the parts of a gene that have important instructions to make proteins. Think of them as the chapters in a book that we want to read.

3. **What are introns?** Introns are the parts of a gene that do not have important instructions. They are like the extra pages in a book that we don’t need to read to understand the story.

4. **What happens during gene processing?** When a gene is read to make a protein, the exons are kept, and the introns are removed. This is like taking out the extra pages and just keeping the important chapters.

5. **So what’s the difference?** The main difference is: exons have important instructions, and introns do not.

Does that help you understand?

Gabriella Anderson · Answer

undefined Introns are non-coding sequences found within a gene that are transcribed into pre-mRNA but are removed during RNA processing, whereas exons are coding sequences that are retained in mature mRNA and are translated into protein.