Biology Regents Practice Exam 2026 – The All-in-One Guide to Master Your Regents!

The process involved in synthesizing functional gene products is gene expression. This process encompasses the entire pathway from the transcription of DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA) and subsequently, the translation of that mRNA into proteins. These proteins are the functional products that carry out various roles within the cell, forming enzymes, structural components, and signaling molecules.

During gene expression, specific genes are activated, allowing for the transcription of the corresponding mRNA, which serves as a template for assembling amino acids into a protein. This is essential for all cellular functions and ultimately dictates the phenotype of an organism. By contrast, gene modification refers to the alteration of gene sequences, gene replication involves copying DNA for cell division, and gene sequencing relates to determining the order of nucleotides in a DNA segment. While these processes are important in genetics, they do not directly pertain to the synthesis of functional products.