Question

Investigators examined the expression of transporter mrna and protein produced in zebrafish homozygous for each of the alleles and found the results summarized below (+ = present, − = absent). does the allele associated with light color appear to be altering transcription or translation? mrna protein dark-color zebrafish allele + + light-color zebrafish allele − − source: r. l. lamason et al. 2005. science 310: 1782−1786. investigators examined the expression of transporter mrna and protein produced in zebrafish homozygous for each of the alleles and found the results summarized below (+ = present, = absent). does the allele associated with light color appear to be altering transcription or translation? mrna protein dark-color zebrafish allele + + light-color zebrafish allele source: r. l. lamason et al. 2005. science 310: 17821786. translation transcription

Answer 1

The allele which has light color appears to be altering transcription and that is why the corresponding mRNA is absent in zebrafish which is homozygous. The protein we can say were absent because mRNA which is being required for protein synthesis it was not present.
If the allele had altered translation, mRNA which is functional would have been present but in the same case, the protein will still be absent.