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#65 Q for Faq-o-matic
I am just learning about Gene Ontology and I find it very useful to
modern day biologists. As I read through the introduction, I am
wondering why on the explanantions for Gene Peoducts I do not see
any mention of the word 'protein'. Is not gene product also a
protein? I can though understand the ease of confusing gene
products and molecular function. Your insights will be greatly
appreaciated.
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Answer:
A gene product may be a protein or an RNA. The Gene Ontology
documentation
uses 'gene product' so that transcripts and functional RNAs, which can be
annotated using GO terms, will not appear to be excluded.
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Please don't put the question in exactly as worded in the email. Instead,
I'd use 'What is a gene product?' or 'Why does GO refer to 'Gene
products?'. The answer can also be reworded, e.g. to 'A gene product is
any protein or RNA encoded by a gene.' or you can use something like
what we put in the Current Protocols chapter on GO. (Jen - i'll send you a
copy off-tracker.)
I could have sworn that the old general documentation page explained
what a gene product is, but the relevant blurb is missing now. It used to
be at the beginning of the 'Gene Products' section, and could be restored
to the same place.
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I've added a new FAQ for this.