Question

1. What is the relationship between protein translation and gene expression? Would you expect to always see correlation between these two? Discuss a circumstance within the context of cancer where mRNA and protein expression may not correlate.
2. Why is it important to look at both protein and RNA levels of a series of genes/proteins in a molecular pathway? Discuss this in the context of cancer associated pathways. Give a specific example of a pathway that is independent of gene expression in cancer.

Answer 1

During translation is the second major step in gene expression, the mRNA is "read" according to the genetic code, which relates the DNA sequence to the amino acid sequence in proteins.  
Gene expression is often interpreted in terms of protein levels. Both are for peptide hormones and receptors, but when both are measured, the correlations are not very strong.

Most genes contain the information needed to make functional molecules called proteins. The journey from gene to protein is complex and tightly controlled within each cell. It consists of two major steps: transcription and translation. Together, transcription and translation are known as gene expression.During the process of transcription, the information stored in a gene's DNA is transferred to a similar molecule called RNA in the cell nucleus. Both RNA and DNA are made up of a chain of nucleotide bases, but they have slightly different chemical properties. The type of RNA that contains the information for making a protein is called messenger RNA (mRNA) because it carries the information, or message, from the DNA out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm.

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