Page 88 - The Miracle of Protein
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86 THE MIRACLE OF PROTEIN
as a flawless chain of amino acids. Ribosome uses more than one
hundred helper molecules, which operate in perfect coordination
to ensure that the translation system works flawlessly. These mol-
ecules are special RNAs sent to the production center and most
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of them are specialized proteins. The most important of these is
ribosomal RNA, which allows information brought to the ribo-
some by the messenger RNA to be understood and read in a dif-
ferent language by the transfer RNA. During the error-free trans-
lation process, each one of these prepared mechanisms must
work in a flawless manner for the correct protein to emerge.
mRNA and tRNA match each other like a lock and
key, which allows the DNA language to be translated
into protein language. Every third letter in the mRNA
is like a key, and the end of the tRNA that corre-
sponds to it, is like a lock that opens this key.