When an injury occurs, cells can activate new genes to carry out repair.
Gene regulation is a process in which a cell determines which genes it will express and when. There are a number of reasons why organisms, from single-celled animals to blue whales, engage in this process, and gene regulation is a topic of interest to some researchers interested in learning more about how the process works and what happens. when it goes wrong
Gene regulation is a process in which a cell determines which genes it will express and when.
One of the easiest ways to illustrate gene regulation is to talk about it in humans. Every cell in the human body contains a complete copy of that person’s DNA, with tens of thousands of potentially viable genes. All of these genes cannot be expressed at the same time, so cells must decide which genes to turn on and which to turn off. For example, a skin cell turns on the genes that make it a skin cell, while a bone cell would turn those genes off. None of these cells would need the genes that allow a cell to differentiate into a neuron, so those genes would also be left out.
In addition to being useful for cell differentiation, gene regulation is also valuable for cell function. As a cell moves through its life, it has different needs and functions, which can be met by using this process to determine which genes are expressed and when. Likewise, cells can adapt to environmental changes, such as an injury that requires repair by activating new genes. For the cell, gene regulation can be carried out in a number of different ways, one of the most common being simply the regulation of the rate of RNA transcription. Genes can also be turned off by altering the DNA structure in an individual cell to turn them on or off.
Unicellular organisms also use this process to regulate their functions and activities. These organisms must be able to quickly adapt the genetic material to adapt to new circumstances and new environments, since failure to do so will not only result in the death of the cell, but also the death of the organism itself. Genetic regulation allows these organisms to do things that will allow them to adapt to harsh and extreme environments and adapt to changes, such as introducing antibiotics to their environment.
There are also potential therapeutic applications for the process. By knowing which genes are involved in a cancer or genetic condition, for example, it’s theoretically possible to turn off those genes so they can’t be active in the body.