MCAT Question A Day - 5/10/14 - Answer!

The gene for triose phosphate isomerase 'from maize (a corn plant) spans over 3400 base pairs of DNA and contains eight introns and nine exons, Which of the following would most likely represent the number of nucleotides found in the mature mRNA after posttranscriptional processing?

A. 1050

B. 3400

C. 6800

D. 13600

A is correct. Introns are removed from the primary transcriptript during posttranscriptional processing. The number of nucleotides in the mature mRNA would have to be less than the number of base pairs of the gene.

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