The human gene for a protein hormone has been isolated.Scientists want to introduce this gene into a bacterial host, modifying the bacteria so that it can be used to produce this hormone.After successfully introducing the gene on a plasmid, the bacteria produced the protein hormone, but the protein was defective, longer than normal, with intervening stretches of amino acids not found in the native protein.What is the most likely explanation?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The presence of intervening stretches of amino acids supports the hypothesis that the gene introduced contained introns, which are not present in bacterial genes. Bacterial cells lack the machinery to remove introns from pre-mRNA during processing. Consequently, these introns remain present in the final mRNA transcript and result in the production of aberrant protein sequences.

The Human Gene for a Protein Hormone Has Been Isolated