What is a unit of heredity that produces a functional product such as a polypeptide?

• A. Chromosome
• B. Gene
• C. Allele
• D. Trait

Answer: (B)

A gene is a fundamental unit of heredity in living organisms. It is a specific sequence of nucleotide bases in DNA (or RNA in some viruses) that encodes instructions for synthesizing a functional product, typically a polypeptide, which can fold into a protein. Proteins are crucial for carrying out various functions within cells, including structural roles, catalyzing biochemical reactions as enzymes, and regulating metabolic processes.

Genes can exist in different forms called alleles, which may result in variations in the traits that an organism exhibits, but the defining characteristic of a gene is its role in coding for proteins or functional RNA products. While chromosomes are structures that contain many genes and traits refer to observable characteristics influenced by genes, it is specifically the gene that directly produces functional products.