Gene product: the molecule that is produced based on information contained within a gene and provides function to the organism. Most of the time, a gene product is a protein. Sometimes gene products can also be an RNA molecule. In forward genetic analysis, we can't formally tell if a gene product is protein or RNA, so sometimes to be cautious we say "%%gene product%%" instead of protein, even though the majority of the time a %%gene product%% is indeed a protein.