An introductory bioinformatics exercise to reinforce gene structure and expression and analyze the relationship between gene and protein sequences.

We have developed an introductory bioinformatics exercise for sophomore biology and biochemistry students that reinforces the understanding of the structure of a gene and the principles and events involved in its expression. In addition, the activity illustrates the severe effect mutations in a gene sequence can have on the protein product. Students search GenBank for the wild-type nucleotide sequence of the Caenorhabditis elegans unc-22 gene, the amino acid sequence of its gene product, and the nucleotide sequence of the transposon Tc5.