Jumpstart Into Biology/Genetics: Protein Synthesis

Protein Synthesis is the process of making proteins.

Have you ever wondered what your hair is made up of? Your hair is made up of a protein called, keratin. I don’t know about you, but I would wonder how keratin is made.

In cellular biology, there are tons of processes that need to be understood, but the most important one is Protein Synthesis. There are 2 steps involved in making protein — Transcription and Translation.

Making a protein is similar to making a cake. First, you need to copy a recipe and then you need to make your cake.

Transcription

The recipe for your protein comes from your DNA. Your DNA is unwound and copied into another nucleic acid called, mRNA (messenger RNA). The mRNA is then sent out of the nucleus to make proteins in translation.

Translation

Now that you have the recipe, we need to start making the cake. Our mRNA is now out of the nucleus and going to find its way to a ribosome. A ribosome is an organelle responsible for making proteins. The mRNA attaches to the ribosome and the ribosome reads the mRNA and makes the right protein finishing Protein Synthesis.

Hello! My name is Aadhi Sekhar and I am a sophomore at Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, Illinois and I am very interested in the science fields. I take extra interest in genetics and biology. If there is something incorrect or that could be changed in this article please feel free to email me at aadhi@sekhar.net