Messenger Rna Synthesis

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To make protein from DNA we first need to take a different step. That is to make RNA from DNA. RNA is important for a lot of different functions but I will only talk about messenger RNA here, which is used to synthesize protein from. RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) is synthesized in the nucleus and is very similar to DNA. The synthesis of RNA also involves the use of bases, but in RNA synthesis no thymine (T) is used but uracil (U) is used instead. The sequence of RNA corresponds to the sequence of DNA from which the RNA is synthesized (see the figure below). The synthesis of RNA from DNA is called transcription (the DNA is transcribed into RNA). In this figure the RNA is being synthesized from the red strand of DNA (which serves as template), this strand of DNA starts with the base T. The RNA strand …show more content…

This continues until the complete sequence of RNA is synthesized. Because the red strand serves as template, the sequence of RNA will be identical to the blue strand of DNA, only with the base U instead of the base T.
So now we have an RNA strand. From this strand the protein will be synthesized, this is called translation (RNA is translated into protein). A protein is made from amino acids; these form a strand. I show the protein strand as a linear line, but in reality complex interactions between amino acids lead to 3 dimensional forms that are essential for the functioning of the protein. The translation of RNA to protein is different than the synthesis of RNA from DNA (transcription). When the DNA was transcribed into RNA, one base of DNA corresponded to one base of RNA, this 1 to 1 relation is not used in the translation to protein. During this translation, 1 amino acid is added to the protein strand for every 3 bases in the RNA. So a RNA sequence of 48 bases codes for a protein strand

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