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.