Bio 1a03 lecture 14 turning off the signal. The amounts of gene products produced by an organism vary according to conditions and signals. Therefore, the expression of genes is regulated to ensure there is not an influx or efflux of products. Gene expression can be regulated at many points such as initiation of transcription, rna processing, protein synthesis, protein modification, protein transport and protein degradation. This allows the cell to have the ability to rapidly alter the levels of active proteins in response to external and internal signals. The most straightforward way for scientists to examine patterns of gene expression of specific genes is to identify the mrna products that are produced. To identify which cell or tissue expresses the gene, it is possible to analyse where the corresponding mrna that is transcribed from that bene can be found during development in the intact organism. This process of in situ hybridization can be used to find specific genes of interest.