Identify the normal functions of the following genes whose mut...

Question

Identify the normal functions of the following genes whose mutations are associated with the development of cancer.

Which of these genes would you classify as a proto-oncogene and which as a tumor suppressor gene? Explain your categorization for each gene.

Accepted Answer

Hi, everybody. Here's our next question. It says which of the following statements best explains the distinction between oncogenes and proto oncogenes. Choice. A proto oncogenes cause cancer. Though oncogenes are healthy genes that help cells grow. Choice B proto oncogenes arise from oncogenes. Choice C. While oncogenes can replicate uncontrollably, proto oncogenes replication is controlled and choice D oncogenes can mutate and activate as proto oncogenes. Well, if we can't sort out the correct answer right away, one important thing to note is that whenever we see this prefix proto, that means first or earliest. So when we see a question, like our choice, like choice, B proto oncogenes can rise from oncogenes, you can pretty much eliminate that right away because you wouldn't expect to see something with the label first or earliest arising from the same word without that proto prefix. So you would expect, which is the case that oncogenes arise from proto oncogenes. The other way around uh same thing with choice D, which you can kind of eliminate even without necessarily knowing for sure choice D, which has oncogenes can mutate mutate and activate as pro proto oncogenes. Again, that would be unlikely. And indeed is incorrect because you'd expect proto oncogenes to come first, which is the case, they can mutate and activate as oncogenes. So now that we've kind of cut out those two answers right away on the base of our prefix there, which is why it's useful to know those things. Let's think about these two things. And the answer is that proto oncogenes, but rudo on jeans are healthy, normal genes, they're important and they control cell growth and division. But of course, any time you have a gene that controls cell growth and division, if you mut mutate it, if something goes wrong and you affect cell growth and division and cause it to go out of control, you have the risk of causing cancer since cancer literally is out of control cell growth and division. So when a proto-oncogene has a significant mutation, it can give rise to an oncogene. So usually what happens is the uh expression is turned way up. Um or just the mutation disrupts the regulation of it. You have this oncogene that causes uncontrolled cell growth and division, which essentially equals cancer. So, a proto-oncogene is not a bad thing. Proto-oncogene is necessary as the body develops and grows but can mutate and have these drastic consequences as an oncogene. So let's look at our remaining answer. Choices. Choice. A proto oncogenes cause cancer. The oncogenes are healthy genes. Well, those two things are swapped. Obviously, it's oncogenes that cause cancer and proto oncogenes that are healthy genes that help cells grow. So we're left with choice C while oncogenes can replicate uncontrollably, proto oncogenes replication is controlled. That is our correct answer. And we'll see you in the next video.

Identify the normal functions of the following genes whose mutations are associated with the development of cancer.
Which of these genes would you classify as a proto-oncogene and which as a tumor suppressor gene? Explain your categorization for each gene.

Key Concepts

Proto-oncogenes

Tumor Suppressor Genes

Gene Mutation and Cancer Classification

Watch next