Protein Synthesis
Proteins are the main building block for your body and the process to build them is vital to survival
Value
Proteins are the basic worker in you, doing must jobs in the body, from oxygen transport in the blood, to fighting infection, to making you move. They are necessary for structure in our muscles, for messaging in hormones, for chemical processes in our body as enzymes, and for attacking foreign bodies like bacteria and viruses. There are are to 20,000 different protein-producing genes, which means we can make up to 20,000 proteins, however we have around 7,000 different proteins found in every major tissue and another 5,000 tissue specific proteins in our body. The number of proteins in our body at a given point is unknown but estimates run between 100,000 and 1 million. Proteins don't last forever and as they age, lose stability and are eventually broken down back to their basic amino acids to be used to make other proteins.
Transcription
Proteins are created from amino acids, floating within the cytoplasm, and each protein is the organization of a certain number of amino acids in the correct sequence. The information to organize the amino acids is contained in the DNA of the nucleus, which is copied down into mRNA, or messenger RNA, which has a single helix strand instead of DNA's double helix. The mRNA is capped on both end, has unless pieces removed and is sent outside the nucleus to the ribosomes in the Rough E.R.
Translation
The ribosome is a protein which provides the building site for the protein to be made. The ribosome reads the sequence of the mRNA and a matches it up with a tRNA, which has three base pairs on one end and an amino acid on the other end. Ever three base pairs matches a certain amino acid, but most of the twenty amino acids match up to more than one base pair group. This allows for some error without distorting the end product. As the mRNA slides through, tRNA match up, and a line of amino acids is created.
Finishing touches
The order of the amino acids give the protein its distinct shape, as certain amino acids do hydrogen bonds with other amino acids farther down the line, creating folding. If one amino acid is different in the sequence then the entire shape is changed. The R group in each amino acid further alter the shape, as some are hydrophilic or water loving and bond in fords, while hydrophobic amino acids bond in spirals with the hydrophobic ends in the center. The shape of the protein dictates its function and job, some are transport proteins, while others are enzymes.