I guess they take a longer path to ensure that the things are controlled and replication is accurate. But is it possible to implement these checks and processes directly in DNA to proteins?
In: Biology
There is no biological mechanism to read DNA directly into protein sequence. Ribosomes are the organelle that generate protein, and requires RNA as the template for making the protein. Ribosomes cannot use DNA as a template.
Technically it _could_, but efficient design and allocation of functions stand in the way of that. Without going into detail, while it’s _possible_, it’s not nearly as suitable as what we currently have (therefore we don’t do that), and we would need modified protein machinery and other things in order to facilitate it which we currently lack.
The way I understand it, DNA is more stable, but more complex. RNA is simpler, less stable. Easier to make and copy.
Nope. The nucleotides in DNA thymine, cytosine, guanine and adenine are grouped into batches of three which act like a byte in a computer program for assembling a protein, each of these codons represents a start, an amino acid or a stop instruction resulting in the correct sequence of amino acids being assembled to complete the protein. RNA is needed to just copy the relevant assembly instructions rather than using the entire IKEA catalogue. https://youtu.be/DfaPwWCvN5s
Most DNA strands are going to be too long to fit in the Ribosomes that produce proteins. Also RNA isn’t just used to transport the genetic code it also carries out the work of decoding the genetic code and chemically creating proteins.
If you wished to “simplify” the process you could use RNA to do everything. RNA can replicate, it can act as an emzine, can be structural and it can to all the transcription and synthesis.
No, proteins cannot be directly formed from DNA without the need of intermediary RNAs. The process of transcription and translation is necessary to ensure accuracy and control in protein synthesis.
The functional hurdles are that Ribosomes read the genetic material mRNA and generate the protein and this has been well described here, so I won’t further that completed answer.
The PRACTICAL HURDLE is that protein can be generated but must be TRANSPORTED to go where it needs to once manufactured and the DNA is housed in the Nucleus which has no such mechanism, while the Endoplasmic Reticulum is where most of the ribosomes reside. The nucleus is incredibly efficient for space and crams all of the DNA into it with zero room for extra stuff. If you were transcribing the DNA into protein directly, it would create tremendous “muck” around the DNA and gum up the whole system (remember protein is often very sticky). Instead, itty bitty threads (mRNA) are transcribed which can be easily moved out of the nucleus and proteins are synthesized off-site which can then be efficiently transported/modified/etc as needed for their ultimate purposes via the ER and the Golgi Apparatus. Imagine three buildings next to each other: one building holds all the plans, the next one holds all the manufacturing, and the last one has shipping.
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