Singular Plural?

Question

Is the word "**gene**" a countable noun? I'm asking you this question to answer the problem below:"Proponents argue that this particular strain is altered only by the removal of **the gene** responsible for the strain's propensity to cause frost damage, thereby rendering it safer than the phytopathogen from which it was derived."**Q) Is the statement below true or false?** The altered bacteria had a genetic constitution differing from that of the normal strain only in that the altered variety had **one less gene**.It is confusing Because of the word "one" in the problem. If it says "gene" in the passage, does it mean one gene or could it be several genes?

Answer 1

If a passage only says "gene", then there is one gene in question. If the passage uses the word "genes", then there is more than one gene in question.

If the example passage you cited, only one gene is in question.

Answer 2

The plural form of "gene" is "genes," so in this case, the problem is referring to one gene.