The Ribosome Reads the Message

You'll learnhow a ribosome reads mRNA, not DNA, to build a protein in the cytoplasm.

Translation is where the central dogma cashes out: a strip of mRNA goes in, a polypeptide comes out. Watch one short reading frame — AUG GCU ACC UAA — go from start codon to release factor. Ten short steps; press Next for each one.

10 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · RIBOSOME READS mRNA, NOT DNA · CODON ON mRNA / ANTICODON ON tRNA · 5′→3′ AND N→C · v5

mRNA in, polypeptide out · codon on the mRNA, anticodon on the tRNA

Before you start

What you're looking at

A cell split into nucleus and cytoplasm, and the short mRNA tape a ribosome is about to read.

The question

Which molecule does the ribosome read to build a protein — the DNA, or a copy of it?

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