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Comment
. 2016 Oct 20;12(10):885.
doi: 10.15252/msb.20167325.

Quantifying gene expression: the importance of being subtle

Gustavo Monteiro Silva  1 , Christine Vogel  1
Affiliations
Comment

Quantifying gene expression: the importance of being subtle

Gustavo Monteiro Silva et al. Mol Syst Biol. .

Abstract

Gene expression is regulated at both the mRNA and protein level through on‐off switches and fine‐tuned control. In their recent study, Edfors et al (2016) use highly accurate, targeted proteomics methods and examine to what extent the amount of protein produced per mRNA transcript varies across different tissues. They find that the bulk part of protein concentrations is set at a per‐gene level: This relationship, the protein/mRNA ratio, is constant across cell types and tissues, but varies by several orders of magnitude across genes.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Subtle changes characterize different tissues
The graph shows the mRNA and protein concentrations for two example genes, MEF2D and CD81, across several tissues and cell lines (log base 10; TPM, transcripts per million). The concentrations are well correlated at a log–log scale. Some variation remains (double arrows): At similar protein concentration, MEF2D's mRNA concentration varies across tissues up to eightfold, while, vice versa, CD81's protein concentration varies over close to two orders of magnitude (100‐fold) for a given RNA concentration.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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