Is it like precise like a computer reading data or more down to some cells just happen to react to a particular part of a DNA which starts off some process?
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DNA is the “recipe book” for your cells.
The key component of DNA is the **nucleotide.** This is a little molecule that comes in 4 flavors. You can consider these the “letters” in our recipe book.
These letters form three-nucleotide sequences called **codons.** A codon is basically the “word” in our recipe book. It codes for what’s known as an **amino acid.** You can think of these like building blocks for building components of the cell.
If you string enough of these “words” together, you get a **protein.** A protein could be considered a “recipe” in the book. These proteins do many of the life functions that the cell needs to survive.
This recipe book is kept in the **nucleus** of the cell. Now, you don’t want to damage the master recipe book. In order to avoid that, proteins called **polymerases** make a copy of the recipe they want to create. This process is triggered by signals in the cell. It’s like a kid asking for a specific meal; if they ask enough times, you’ll probably make it, if you happen to have a lot of carrots, you’ll probably use a recipe that uses carrots, etc.
The form that this “copy” takes is called RNA. This is slightly different from DNA, but the same general idea applies in that it’s made of nucleotides and stuff.
Once a copy of the DNA is made, it is “read” by a thing called a **ribosome.** This piece of the cell sees the codons in our copy, reads what the “word” is, and grabs an amino acid (our building blocks) that the word represents. It then moves to the next “word,” grabbing and attaching this amino acid to the one before. Repeat this 1,000 times and you have a long string of amino acids.
Depending on the characteristics of these amino acids, they will form a protein with a particular shape and function.
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