Resumo
A partir da determinação da estrutura da molécula informacional ácido desoxirribonucleico (DNA) feita no ano de 1953 por Watson e Crick, a biologia molecular teve um desenvolvimento fantástico que culminou, nos tempos atuais, com a possibilidade de determinação da sequência de nucleotídeos que correspondem à totalidade do conteúdo informacional de diversos organismos. A descoberta da configuração de genes interrompidos, com a discriminação de sequências denominadas exons e introns, foi um passo fundamental para o entendimento da arquitetura,
funcionamento e regulação da expressão dos genes. Este é um artigo inicial de uma série que tem como objetivo fazer um levantamento dos experimentos fundamentais da descoberta dos vários tipos de introns. Descrevemos os antecedentes e a descoberta dos genes interrompidos de pré-mRNAs, os quais dão início à descrição desse tipo de organização gênica. O resgate da história da descoberta dos genes interrompidos e a descrição dos processos e métodos implicados têm sua importância na origem do vasto arsenal de técnicas e análises utilizadas nos estudos dos mecanismos de regulação gênica hoje em dia, a qual tem profundo impacto em várias atividades humanas.
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