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Importance of gene regulation

Importance of gene regulation

Dr.V.Malathi

Gene regulation makes cells different

The different patterns of gene expression cause our various cell types to have different sets of proteins, making each cell type uniquely specialized to do its job.  For example, the liver functions to remove toxic substances like alcohol from the bloodstream. By expressing genes encoding the enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. This breaks alcohol down into a non-toxic molecule.
Likewise the neurons in brain do not  function to remove toxins from the body, so they keep these genes unexpressed, or “turned off.” Similarly, the cells of the liver do not send signals using neurotransmitters, so they keep neurotransmitter genes turned off.
It is interesting to know that humans and chimpanzees are about 98.8%identical at the DNA level. But the protein-coding sequences of some genes are different between humans and chimpanzees.  This  contributes to the differences between the species explaining the importance of gene regulation and differential expression of the genes.

Gene expression regulation enables the human body to respond to changes in nutrient concentration

Hormonal and nutrient concentrations affect several regulatory domains of genes, which encode for enzymes involved in anabolic and catabolic pathways. Insulin and glucose concentrations increase mRNA levels and transcription rates of the glycolytic enzymes, and decrease those of the gluconeogenic enzymes. On the contrary glucagon  has the opposite effect of insulin.

The required protein must be generated at the appropriate time and rate for a cell to function effectively. To prevent the buildup of intermediates, particularly the hazardous ones, in the biosynthetic pathway, the activity of the pathway enzymes must be balanced which could be achieved by regulating the expression of genes encoding these enzymes.

Gene expression regulation helps to conserve Energy and Space 

Energy and space are conserved through gene expression control. Just activating the genes when necessary will use less energy. Also, because DNA must be unwound from its tightly coiled shape in order to be translated and transcribed, just expressing a selection of genes in each cell conserves space. If every protein were constantly expressed in every cell, cells would need to be extremely large.

 

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Importance of gene regulation by Dr.V.Malathi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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