Genome vs. Gene

Main Difference

The main difference between Genome and Gene is that the entirety of an organism’s hereditary information; genome of organism (encoded by the genomic DNA) is the (biological) information of heredity which is passed from one generation of organism to the next; is transcribed to produce various RNAs and Gene is a basic physical and functional unit of heredity

• Genome

  In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is the genetic material of an organism. It consists of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The genome includes both the genes (the coding regions) and the noncoding DNA, as well as mitochondrial DNA and chloroplast DNA. The study of the genome is called genomics.

• Gene

  In biology, a gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA or RNA that codes for a molecule that has a function. During gene expression, the DNA is first copied into RNA. The RNA can be directly functional or be the intermediate template for a protein that performs a function. The transmission of genes to an organism’s offspring is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic trait. These genes make up different DNA sequences called genotypes. Genotypes along with environmental and developmental factors determine what the phenotypes will be. Most biological traits are under the influence of polygenes (many different genes) as well as gene–environment interactions. Some genetic traits are instantly visible, such as eye color or number of limbs, and some are not, such as blood type, risk for specific diseases, or the thousands of basic biochemical processes that constitute life.

  Genes can acquire mutations in their sequence, leading to different variants, known as alleles, in the population. These alleles encode slightly different versions of a protein, which cause different phenotypical traits. Usage of the term “having a gene” (e.g., “good genes,” “hair colour gene”) typically refers to containing a different allele of the same, shared gene. Genes evolve due to natural selection / survival of the fittest and genetic drift of the alleles.

  The concept of a gene continues to be refined as new phenomena are discovered. For example, regulatory regions of a gene can be far removed from its coding regions, and coding regions can be split into several exons. Some viruses store their genome in RNA instead of DNA and some gene products are functional non-coding RNAs. Therefore, a broad, modern working definition of a gene is any discrete locus of heritable, genomic sequence which affect an organism’s traits by being expressed as a functional product or by regulation of gene expression.The term gene was introduced by Danish botanist, plant physiologist and geneticist Wilhelm Johannsen in 1905. It is inspired by the ancient Greek: γόνος, gonos, that means offspring and procreation.

• Gene (noun)

  (in informal use) a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring

  “playing tennis is in my genes”

• Gene (noun)

  (in technical use) a distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize.