The key difference between gene expression and gene regulation is that gene expression is a process that produces a functional protein or RNA from the genetic information hidden in a gene while gene regulation is the process that induces or represses the expression of a gene.
A gene is a specific fragment of DNA located in a chromosome. It consists of introns, which are non-coding sequences, and exons, which are coding sequences. Genes undergo expression via two main steps in order to produce proteins. The specific order of the nucleotides determines the resultant protein. Hence, it is really important to express and regulate genes to prevent the production of unnecessary proteins which can cause various problems including genetic disorders, syndromes, etc. Hence, gene expression and gene regulation are two extremely important processes occurring in living organisms. However, neither of these processes takes place separately; both processes occur simultaneously.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Gene Expression
3. What is Gene Regulation
4. Similarities Between Gene Expression and Gene Regulation
5. Side by Side Comparison – Gene Expression vs Gene Regulation in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Gene Expression?
Gene expression is the process of transforming the genetic information hidden in a gene into a protein. It is the process that makes biologically important molecules, and they are usually macromolecules, especially proteins. However, RNA is also a product of gene expression. In fact, there can be no life form without gene expression taking place. There are two major steps of gene expression. They are transcription and translation. RNA processing also takes place between these two processes. Not only that, several other processes such as post translations protein modification and non-coding RNA maturation, etc. also take place during gene expression.
Figure 01: Gene Expression
Transcription is the first step of gene expression; this produces an mRNA sequence from the genetic information in the coding sequence of the gene. Then, the produced mRNA sequence undergoes processing in order to remove non-coding sequences. After the processing of the mRNA molecule, it leaves the nucleus and reaches the ribosomes in the cytoplasm. The second step translation starts at the ribosomes. There are specific tRNA (transfer RNA) molecules that recognize the relevant amino acids in the cytoplasm. By the help of rRNA and tRNA, mRNA sequence transforms into a specific protein at the end of the gene expression.
What is Gene Regulation?
Gene regulation is the process of controlling gene expression. It is a vital process in controlling the extremely complex DNA information of an organism. It would be surprising to know that nearly 97% of the human DNA sequences are non-coding sequences. In other words, a great majority of the human genome comprises sequences that are not genes. All of these (at least most of these) non-coding sequences are believed to be functioning in the gene regulation process. Introns are the main component in non-coding sequences while exons code for proteins.
Figure 02: Gene Regulation
Gene regulation has its main functions in controlling the accuracy and speed of gene expression in general and a few other functions in particular. Regulation of the gene expression takes place mainly during transcription, RNA splicing, RNA transporting, translation, and mRNA degradation. However, other processes such as inducing enzyme expressions, inducing heat shock proteins, and lac operon (transportation and metabolism of lactose) are other important aspects of the gene regulation. Moreover, it would be important to state that it is gene regulation that provides the basis for the versatility of the cells to be modified through cellular differentiation via inducing or inhibiting gene expressions.
What are the Similarities Between Gene Expression and Gene Regulation?
- Gene expression and gene regulation are two important processes occurring in living organisms.
- Both processes ensure the production of correct proteins.
- Also, they are vital for passing the correct genetic information from parents to offspring.
- Furthermore, both processes take place at the same time.
What is the Difference Between Gene Expression and Gene Regulation?
Gene expression is the process of synthesizing the biologically functioning macromolecules from genes while gene regulation makes sure nothing goes wrong in the expression process. So, this is the key difference between gene expression and gene regulation. Moreover, a further difference between gene expression and gene regulation is that the gene expression occurs via transcription and translation while gene regulation occurs via the regulation of chromatin domains, transcription, post-transcriptional modification, RNA transport, translation, and mRNA degradation.
Below infographic shows more description on the difference between gene expression and gene regulation.
Summary – Gene Expression vs Gene Regulation
Gene expression is the process that converts the genetic information of a gene into a functional protein or RNA while gene regulation is the process that controls the expression of genes. Actually, gene expression is the main process whereas gene regulation is an essential controlling part. Furthermore, gene expression is subjected to all the related processes of the gene regulation such as timing, speed controlling, inhibition, and inducing. Both gene expression and gene regulation ensure the production of correct proteins at correct amounts. Thus, this summarizes the difference between gene expression and gene regulation.
Reference:
1. “Gene Expression.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, Available here.
2. “Regulation of Gene Expression.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Mar. 2019, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Gene expression eukaryote” By CKRobinson – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Regulation of gene expression by steroid hormone receptor” By Ali Zifan 03:07, 10 July 2016 (UTC) – Own work; Used information from Campbell Biology (10th Edition) by Jane B. Reece & Steven A. Wasserman (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia