A principal problem with inserting an unmodified mammalian gene into a plasmid and then getting that gene expressed in bacteria is that ________.
A) prokaryotes use a different genetic code from that of eukaryotes
B) bacteria translate only mRNAs that have multiple messages
C) bacteria cannot remove eukaryotic introns
D) bacterial RNA polymerase cannot make RNA complementary to mammalian DNA

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eukaryotic genes contain introns, which are non-coding regions that must be removed before the mRNA can be translated into a functional protein. Bacteria lack the splicing machinery necessary to remove introns from eukaryotic mRNA, hence are unable to correctly express eukaryotic genes.

A Principal Problem with Inserting an Unmodified Mammalian Gene into a Plasmid