Answer to Question #249755 in Genetics for ozman

Question

how does the genetic code allows proteins to be synthesised

with minimal errors taking place? Thanks.

Answer 1

 In the first step of protein synthesis, the information in DNA is transferred to a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule by way of a process called transcription. During transcription, the DNA of a gene serves as a template for complementary base-pairing, and an enzyme called polymerase II catalyzes the formation of a pre-mRNA molecule, which is then processed to form mature mRNA. The resulting mRNA is a single-stranded copy of the gene, which next must be translated into a protein molecule. During translation, which is the second major step, the mRNA is "read" according to the genetic code, which relates the DNA sequence to the amino acid sequence in proteins. Each group of three bases in mRNA constitutes a codon, and each codon specifies a particular amino acid (hence, it is a triplet code). The mRNA sequence is thus used as a template to assemble—in order—the chain of amino acids that form a protein.