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askoemnzviwcasf t1_j4hdmuq wrote

Yes but the result would be a little boring. It would without doubt create a nonviable organism.

The reason is that DNA contains critical regions outside of the protein coding part. These include promoters, repressors, enhancers, and numerous RNA transcripts that serve a wide array of functions. Divorcing the part of the DNA that codes for a protein from all the other parts that regulate the expression of that gene would result in dysregulated expression and would certainly be lethal if applied to all genes simultaneously.

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ScienceIsSexy420 t1_j4hutp1 wrote

For the longest time we didn't know what the purpose of the DNA between genes served. More recently, we have been discovering rhat these non-ncoding sections play important regulatory roles by providing binding sites for promoters, repressers, histones, and other proteins that interact with DNA. For a particular gene to function properly, it not only needs the nucleotide sequence to remain intact, but also for its regulatory functionality to remain the same. Altering the non-coding DNA surrounding a gene will almost certainly change its level of transcription.

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heartless-tramp OP t1_j4lwzvj wrote

Thank you so much! I understood it now. (but i am pretty sure if i tried to research more into the topic, i wouldn't understand so much...lol) Regardless, I enjoy learning about biology (I actually participated in a biology competition a couple days back and lost xx)

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askoemnzviwcasf t1_j4m9a2b wrote

happy to help. The question you're asking here concerns a massive chunk of biology so theres a tremendous amount to learn. If you want to learn more, the key is to take it in bite sized chunks and go at your own pace. To start, you could look at a simple case and search "explanation of the lac operon" which was one of the first systems in which gene regulation was well studied, or you could just search the term "gene regulation". Alternatively any biology textbook will have tons of information on gene regulation, even the slightly out of date ones. Finally you can check out the book "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" for a slightly lighter read, written by an expert in the field and a great science communicator. This last option might be the most enjoyable because of the digestible writing style compared to a textbook.

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marypoppindatpussy t1_j4p3bd9 wrote

i'm confused, was your question about changing the dna sequence of just one protein, leaving all the rest of the dna unchanged? that's how i interpreted it. but askoemnzviwcasf seems to have interpreted the question as you changed all parts of dna that code for a protein. was their interpretation correct?

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