Clinical and Experimental Psychology

Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein-coding genes such as transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA Gene expression is the process by which the instructions in our DNA are converted into a functional product, such as a protein. Gene expression is the process by which the information encoded in a gene is used to direct the assembly of a protein molecule. The cell reads the sequence of the gene in groups of three bases. Genes that code for amino acid sequences are known as 'structural genes'. The process of gene expression involves two main stages: Transcription: the production of messenger RNA (mRNA) by the enzyme RNA polymerase, and the processing of the resulting mRNA molecule. The expression of genes in an organism can be influenced by the environment, including the external world in which the organism is located or develops, as well as the organism's internal world, which includes such factors as its hormones and metabolism.