Which statement describes the correlation between ASBT protein and ASBT mRNA expression levels in the ileum?

• A. Positive correlation (ρ = 0.41)
• B. No correlation
• C. Negative correlation
• D. Inverse correlation with Pcorr > .05

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how mRNA levels relate to the actual protein amount in tissue. For ASBT in the ileum, the data show that higher ASBT mRNA tends to be accompanied by higher ASBT protein, shown by a positive Spearman correlation around 0.41. This indicates a moderate positive relationship: as transcription ramps up, translation and protein abundance tend to rise too, though the link isn’t perfect because many steps beyond transcription can affect protein levels (translation efficiency, protein turnover, post-translational regulation, technical variability).

So, the description that fits best is a positive correlation. It’s not no correlation and not negative, and it’s not an inverse relationship with non-significant p-values—the observed positive association with ρ ≈ 0.41 captures the direction and strength of the relationship.