How Cells Make Proteins

9th Gradeβ€’40 minutesβ€’STEMscopes

Learning Objective

I can describe the roles of DNA, mRNA, and tRNA in protein synthesis.

Key Concepts

The central dogma, developed by Francis Crick, explains how DNA contains genes that code for specific proteins.

During transcription, RNA polymerase copies a gene from DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA) inside the nucleus.

In translation, the ribosome reads the mRNA codons, and transfer RNA (tRNA) brings the corresponding amino acids to build a polypeptide chain, forming a protein.

Practice Questions

This lesson includes 4 practice questions to reinforce learning.

View questions preview

1. What is the central dogma of molecular biology, and who formulated it?

2. During translation, what is the role of tRNA?

3. Which of the following best describes the process of transcription?

...and 1 more questions

Educational Video

Transcription and Translation

Bozeman Science

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