Welcome to the fascinating world of genetics and the process of translation in cells! 🌟
Translation is a crucial step in the expression of genes, where the information encoded in mRNA is used to build proteins. This process occurs in the cell's ribosomes, which read the sequence of mRNA bases and assemble the corresponding amino acids into a polypeptide chain.
Steps of Translation:
- Initiation: The ribosome assembles around the target mRNA. The first tRNA is attached at the start codon.
- Elongation: The ribosome travels along the mRNA, matching tRNA anticodons with mRNA codons. Each tRNA carries a specific amino acid that is added to the growing polypeptide chain.
- Termination: The ribosome reaches a stop codon, which signals the end of translation. The newly made protein is released to undergo folding and post-translational modifications.
For a visual representation of translation, check out this animated video that beautifully explains the process. 🎥