how do microorganisms produce enzymes?
In: Biology
DNA is biochemical code. It contains four basic units. They are ordered differently to make a code.
Specialized small machines (they’re big in the cell, but nanoscopic) called polymerases are attracted to regions in the DNA, and once bound to this specific code, they begin reading and making another string of code using a slightly different code, RNA.
This RNA is now a copy of a section of DNA in a different language. It dissociated from the polymerase and floats around. It gets edited (differently in micro organisms) and when it’s done and mature, another machine finds it. The ribosome.
This ribosome binds the RNA and starts reading it. It makes another code, it translates it to a new language. This language is protein. It’s made of amino acids, as opposed to nucleic acids in DNA/RNA. Each 3 bases in the RNA code translate to one unit of protein, amino acids.
Now you have a long string of amino acids. These amino acids interact with one another chemically. So the string to starts to fold on itself in different ways depending on its sequence. Other proteins can also help it fold.
Now protein has a specific shape. It can get modified too. Due to its shape, some things can fit in it, and when they do, they undergo a specific reaction. This is catalysis. A process done by enzymes, a type of protein.
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