Ok, so the DNA has the instructions on how to build a specific living thing right? But the DNA is just a molecule. It doesn’t form a living organism on its own. So, how does the DNA tell the cells what kind of cell to be and how to build organs? How does the body “reads” the DNA to know what to do and how to do it? It’s a question I always had.
In: Biology
One protein has the job of reading along open DNA and it produces messenger RNA as it goes. Messenger RNA is a molecule very similar to DNA but easily degradable and cheap.
The messenger RNA then leaves the DNA area and ends up at a little structure called a Ribosome. The Ribosome reads along the RNA and strings together amino acids as it goes; basically the “building blocks” of proteins.
After they’re released from the ribosome, the final protein folds into its shape. That protein is then floating around the cell and will naturally get ushered by the cell’s systems into whatever its specific chemical role is. Proteins get used for a LOT of things in the body, from structural support, to immune defense, to regulating chemical reactions.
DNA that the cell needs to use for proteins is left “open” for access, DNA that the body doesn’t want that cell to use is left “blocked” through chemical switches and clogging up the access sites. Multicellular organisms have some pretty complex ways to make sure cells know which parts of their DNA should be open, blocked, or restricted. This process usually starts in very early development as the embryo starts to assign roles and organize itself. It’s more or less just an extremely complex cascade of chemical processes that’s been fine-tuned over millions of years by its necessity.
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