Molecule
Messenger RNA
A copy of a gene's instructions that carries them from DNA to the ribosomes, where proteins are made.
Translation
Ribosomes read messenger RNA three bases at a time and join the matching amino acids into a protein.Source: NHGRISource: NHGRI
Also called protein synthesis.
Process
How Translation connects
Translation uses
Molecule
Amino acids
The building blocks of proteins. There are 20 different amino acids, linked in sequences encoded by genes.
Translation happens in
Structure
Ribosomes
Build proteins by reading messenger RNA.
Translation involves
Idea or model
Genetic code
The rules that match each three-base codon to an amino acid or a stop signal. Nearly all living things share the same code.
Translation is described by
Idea or model
Central dogma
Crick's principle that sequence information passes from nucleic acids to proteins and cannot pass from protein back to nucleic acid.
Translation is involved in
Process
Gene expression
Using a gene's information to make its product. Cells switch genes on and off as conditions change.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Translation (opens the original in a new tab)
National Human Genome Research Institute. Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms. National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalCodon (opens the original in a new tab)
National Human Genome Research Institute. Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms. National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducational