Different mRNA molecules are produced from the same pre-mRNA transcript due to _____.

Different mRNA molecules are produced from the same pre-mRNA transcript due to _____.

• A. Alternative Splicing
• B. RNA editing
• C. Transcription
• D. Translation

Answer: (A)

Alternative splicing allows a single pre-mRNA to yield multiple mature mRNA transcripts by including or excluding different exons during processing. The spliceosome can use different splice sites, so some exons are kept while others are skipped or combined in alternative ways. This changes the coding sequence and can produce protein variants from one gene, increasing protein diversity without changing the underlying DNA. RNA editing can modify individual nucleotides within an RNA after transcription, potentially altering codons, but it doesn’t systematically create distinct mRNA variants from the same pre-mRNA as alternative splicing does. Transcription is the making of pre-mRNA from DNA, and translation is the process of making protein from mRNA, neither of which by themselves generate multiple mRNA variants from a single transcript.

Alternative splicing allows a single pre-mRNA to yield multiple mature mRNA transcripts by including or excluding different exons during processing. The spliceosome can use different splice sites, so some exons are kept while others are skipped or combined in alternative ways. This changes the coding sequence and can produce protein variants from one gene, increasing protein diversity without changing the underlying DNA.

RNA editing can modify individual nucleotides within an RNA after transcription, potentially altering codons, but it doesn’t systematically create distinct mRNA variants from the same pre-mRNA as alternative splicing does. Transcription is the making of pre-mRNA from DNA, and translation is the process of making protein from mRNA, neither of which by themselves generate multiple mRNA variants from a single transcript.