Protein Synthesis

• Protein synthesis


  The process of making proteins
• Protein synthesis


  1. Transcription

  2. Translation
• Transcription


  The process of taking a single gene of DNA and copying it into a structure called mRNA
• Translation


  The process of taking the mRNA strand and using it to produce a protein
• Inside almost every cell is a nucleus that contains all the genetic material of that cell in the form of DNA
• Gene


  Small sections of the DNA that have a specific sequence of bases and are able to code for a specific sequence of amino acids
• The specific sequence of bases has to be read by structures called ribosomes which are outside of the nucleus
• mRNA


  A copy of a single gene that is small enough to leave the nucleus and make its way to the ribosome
• mRNA


  • It is much shorter than DNA because it's only a single gene long
  • It is a single strand rather than a double strand like DNA
  • It contains the base uracil instead of thymine
• Transcription


  1. RNA polymerase binds to the DNA

  2. The two strands of DNA separate

  3. RNA polymerase reads the DNA bases and uses them to make an mRNA strand

  4. The mRNA strand is complementary to the DNA strand

  5. The RNA polymerase detaches and the DNA strands close back up
• Template strand


  The DNA strand that the RNA polymerase moves along to make the mRNA
• Codon


  A group of three bases that codes for a specific amino acid
• tRNA


  Molecules that bring the correct amino acids to the ribosome based on the codons in the mRNA
• Translation


  1. mRNA and ribosome bind together

  2. Ribosome adds one amino acid at a time to build the protein chain

  3. tRNA brings the correct amino acid to the ribosome based on the mRNA codon

  4. Ribosome moves along the mRNA, adding amino acids in sequence

  5. Completed amino acid chain detaches from ribosome and folds into a protein