What is a simple definition of a "gene"?

Question

What is a simple definition of a "gene"?

Answer 1

a sequence of nucleotides that codes for a single polypeptide or phenotype.

Answer 2

A gene is a region of DNA that has the following functions:

1. It has DNA sequences that code for one or more polypeptide sequences;

2. Its DNA may contain regions that only code for RNA, and these regions may have regulatory functions over the expression of the gene;

3.  It may have regulatory RNA that is expressed in other parts of the genome;

4. The DNA in the gene may contain information about where to start and stop expression as well as regions that amplify or suppress the expression.

Answer 3

Almost right...but we do refer to the sequences that yield t-RNAs as genes, but they yield no polypeptide product, only RNA as a final product.

So you could say a sequence of DNA required to make one or more gene products.

But people do refer to microsatellites as "genes", but I guess you could argue that they are doing so wrongly.

Answer 4

A sequence of bases within a chromosome that codes for a single polypeptide.