gen-define-the-role-of-the-ribosome-and-give-one-short-worked-ex-215d

Define the role of the ribosome and give one short worked example.

# Role of the Ribosome The **ribosome** is the cellular machinery responsible for **protein synthesis (translation)**. It reads messenger RNA (mRNA) sequences and assembles amino acids into polypeptide chains according to the genetic code. ## Key Functions: - Binds mRNA and transfer RNA (tRNA) - Catalyzes peptide bond formation between amino acids - Moves along mRNA in the 5' to 3' direction - Contains three tRNA binding sites: A (aminoacyl), P (peptidyl), and E (exit) --- ## Worked Example **mRNA sequence:** 5' - AUG - UUC - GAA - UAA - 3' **Translation process:** 1. **AUG** (start codon) → Methionine (Met) 2. **UUC** → Phenylalanine (Phe) 3. **GAA** → Glutamic acid (Glu) 4. **UAA** (stop codon) → Translation terminates **Resulting polypeptide:** Met-Phe-Glu The ribosome reads each three-nucleotide codon, matches it with the appropriate tRNA carrying its corresponding amino acid, and links the amino acids together until reaching a stop codon.