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Ribosomes inside the cell make the necessary proteins
for the cell to live. The synthesis process (making
the proteins) is more complex than DNA duplication,
but relies on similar processes.
Before the ribosome can make a protein, it first
needs the appropriate DNA instructions. The ribosome
sends an enzyme into the nucleus to “unzip” the
portion of the DNA needed. Then, a nucleic acid
called mRNA, meaning messenger ribonucleic acid,
bonds to one of the unzipped strands (called the
sense strand) much like the replication process.
This is called Transcription. RNA is just like DNA
except that it uses ribose sugar instead of deoxyribose
sugar as its backbone. RNA also doesn’t use the
base thymine (T); instead, it uses uracil (U). The
copied mRNA strand then returns to the ribosome
to make the protein. Another type of RNA, called
transfer RNA or tRNA, collects all the free amino
acids and carries them to the ribosome. The amino
acids will be used to make proteins according to
the mRNA instructions. This process is called Translation.
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