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44 letters in RNA’s genetic “alphabet” AA C T G 220 letters in protein’s polypeptide “alphabet” HHow to get between the two? TTranslation! 2

Begin in the middle and work your way out Example: U A C Tyrosine! p303 in your book 3

 CAG  Glutamine  AAA  Lysine  GGA  Glycine  GGU  Glycine  UUC  Phenylalanine 4

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 AUG  Methionine OR “start”  UAAUAGUGA  “Stop” codons  Act like the period at the end of a sentence. 6

 We know HOW to put it together, but what will actually assemble that protein?  The ribosome ribosome is our protein assembly factory! ribosome = 7 Ribosome.avi

proteins  During translation, the cell uses information from mRNA to produce proteins tRNA  “Knowing” which codon goes to each amino acid is the job of tRNA 8

 Each tRNA molecule has the following:  Amino acid  Amino acid attached to one end  Region of three unpaired bases at other end ▪ (What would you call the opposite of a codon?) ▪ Anticodon! ▪Anticodon bases are complementary to one of the mRNA codons Anticodon 9

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 On the ribosome, the tRNA begins binding to its appropriate site on the mRNA ribosome amino acid 11

 The next tRNA molecule binds to the next codon on the mRNA  The ribosome now links those two amino acids with a peptide bond  The ribosome also breaks the first tRNA-aa bond 12

ribosome mRNA tRNAprotein 13

 The polypeptide (protein) chain continues to grow until a stop codon is reached  (UAG, UGA, UAA)  When it reaches a stop, the polypeptide chain is released into the wild 14 I wonder how much $$ the government spent so I can eat bamboo for 14 hours…

ribosome mRNA tRNA 15

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