Ribosome

From Eterna Wiki

Structure and shape of the E. coli 70S ribosome. The large 50S ribosomal subunit (red) and small 30S ribosomal subunit (blue) are shown with a 200 Ångstrom (20 nm) scale bar. For the 50S subunit, the 23S (dark red) and 5S (orange red) rRNAs and the ribosomal proteins (pink) are shown. For the 30S subunit, the 16S rRNA (dark blue) and the ribosomal proteins (light blue) are shown.

The ribosome is the nanomachine that translates RNA bases from messenger RNA into amino acids and proteins. The principle function of a ribosome is to take messenger RNA (mRNA) derived from genes (typically stored as DNA) and use them as a template or recipe to construct poly-peptides (proteins) by matching 3-base RNA triplets (codons), one at a time, to amino acids using transfer RNA (tRNA) to aid in the process.

Teaching about Ribosomes

Labs and Puzzles for Ribosomes

Selected Forum Posts

Puzzle Solving Resources

Puzzle Construction/Analysis Resources