Multicistronic message is an archaic term for
Polycistronic
A cistron is a region of DNA that is conceptually equivalent to some definitions of a gene, such that the terms are synonymous from certain viewpoints, especially with regard to the molecular gene as contrasted with the Mendelian gene. The quest ...
. Monocistronic, bicistronic and tricistronic are also used to describe mRNA with single, double and triple coding areas (exons).
Note that the base word ''cistron'' is no longer used in genetics, and has been replaced by
intron
An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e., a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gen ...
and
exon
An exon is any part of a gene that will form a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing. The term ''exon'' refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding sequence ...
in eukaryotic mRNA. However, the mRNA found in bacteria is mainly polycistronic. This means that a single bacterial mRNA strand can be translated into several different proteins. This will occur if spacers separate the different proteins, and each spacer has to have a
Shine-Dalgarno sequence located upstream of the start
codon
Genetic code is a set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material (DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links prote ...
.
RNA
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