Briefly describe the following:

Translation

Translation:


Translation refers to the process of polymerization of amino acids to form a polypeptide. In the first phase amino acids are activated in the presence of ATP and linked to their cognate tRNA. The cellular factory responsible for synthesising proteins is the ribosome. When the small subunit of ribosome encounters an mRNA, the process of translation of the mRNA to protein begins. For initiation, the ribosome binds to the mRNA at the start codon (AUG) that is recognized only by the initiator tRNA. During the elongation phase, complexes composed of an amino acid linked to tRNA, sequentially bind to the appropriate codon in mRNA by forming complementary base pairs with the tRNA anticodon. The ribosome moves from codon to codon and amino acids are added one by one, translated into polypeptide sequences dictated by DNA and represented by mRNA. At the end, a release factor binds to the stop codon, terminating translation and releasing the complete polypeptide from the ribosome.



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