Well, there's this thing called protein synthesis. In protein synthesis, amino acids are activated by binding to specific molecules of tRNA and are put together by ribosomes into a sequence. mRNA was transcribed from the DNA template and specifies the sequence of amino acids.
Hey, I've been wondering about genes and how they work. How do they make my eye color? How do they make my features different from yours?
There are two parts to it; the first part is called transcription. Transcription occurs in the nucleus and its where you would transcribe the DNA into a message.
Oh I think I remember this from class! The goal of transcription is to make a RNA copy of a gene's DNA sequence.
During transcription, an enzyme called RNA polymerase will connect complementary RNA bases to the DNA. These RNA bases are bonded together to create a single stranded mRNA. mRNA is a message made of RNA that has been based on the DNA.
And then it goes out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm to the ribosomes right?
Yup! Ribosomes make protein and they are made up of rRNA. The ribosome will build the protein in the next step, called translation, which occurs in the cytoplasm.
The goal of translation is to translate the sequence of mRNA to a sequence of amino acids.
In the cytoplasm, there are tRNA molecules that carry amino acids available. available. The tRNA brings together the amino acids to make protein. mRNA, the message, tells the tRNA which amino acids to transfer.
When the tRNA matches with its complementary bases on the mRNA, they transfer their amino acid. The tRNA reads the bases in groups of letters three called codons.
And that is protein synthesis. Maybe you should pay more attention in class.