Lesson · B.4.2

Protein synthesis

How transcription and translation turn a gene into a protein, the players (mRNA, tRNA, ribosomes) and the vocabulary the HESI A2 Biology subtest tests directly.

ObjectiveB.4.2Read6 minExam weightMolecular Biology ≈ 16% of Biology

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What you will be able to do

Trace the path of genetic information from DNA to a finished protein.
Name each molecule and structure involved in transcription and translation, and state its job.
Read a codon table well enough to translate a short mRNA sequence into amino acids.

What the lesson concludes

Transcription copies a DNA gene into mRNA, inside the nucleus.
Translation reads that mRNA at the ribosome and builds a chain of amino acids.
A codon is three mRNA bases, tRNA carries the matching anticodon and amino acid.
The sequence DNA to RNA to protein is called the central dogma of molecular biology.
A stop codon ends the chain, and the finished polypeptide folds into its working shape.