- Classical mechanics is based on assumed quantities. The discontinuities of quantum mechanics become continuities at the classical physics level.
- Trying to describe 4D space in 3D terms doesn’t work. The mechanics of quanta need to be told in 4D.
- A cell manufactures protein molecules by first transferring information from DNA to mRNA through transcription. Then mRNA is used as a template for protein assembly. This flow of information from DNA to RNA and finally to protein is the precept of genetics that allows for understanding how DNA genetic information works. Translation in the cell reads and interprets the data stored in DNA and carried in mRNA. A series of complex mechanisms associated with the cellular structure known as the ribosome carries out the tasks. Ribosomes are the sites at which a cell reads the genetic code. Ribosomes comprise a complex of proteins and specialized RNA molecules called ribosomal RNA (rRNA). During translation, ribosomes move along an mRNA strand.
- Codons are nucleotides found in mRNA that produce 64 different combinations. These three-nucleotide codons represent 61 amino acids, and 3 are end signals that stop protein synthesis. There are 20 other amino acids; some are redundant. The three nucleotides within a particular codon are part of only that codon. Redundancy in the genetic code means that most amino acids are specified by more than one mRNA codon.
- Translation can also be broken into three distinct phases: initiation, elongation, and termination. The ribosome directs the translation process. In the initiation phase of translation, the ribosome gets its tape read. During translation, ribosomal subunits assemble like a sandwich on the mRNA strand, where they attract tRNA molecules tethered to amino acids. A long chain of amino acids emerges as the ribosome decodes the mRNA sequence into a new protein. The translation is conceptually divided into four phases: initiation, elongation, termination, and ribosome recycling.
- Eukaryotic transcription is carried out in the nucleus of the cell.
- Eukaryotes require transcription factors to bind to the promoter region and help recruit the appropriate polymerase. Randomness didn’t build this process. In eukaryotes, mature mRNA molecules must leave the nucleus and travel to the cytoplasm, where the ribosomes are located.
- Within all cells, the translation machinery resides within a specialized organelle called the ribosome.
