What are Ribosomes?

About Ribosomes:

• Ribosomes are non-membrane-bound cell organelles made of RNA and proteins.
• They are found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
  • In eukaryotic organisms, ribosomes are found in the cytoplasm, mitochondria, and chloroplast.
  • All prokaryotic ribosomes are found free in the cytoplasm of the cell.
• Ribosomal structure and function are strikingly similar in all organisms and organelles.
• They are made of two subunits, the large and the small subunit which comprises ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.
• Primary Function:
  • They are complex molecular machines that make proteins from amino acids in a process called protein synthesis, or translation.
  • Every cell needs ribosomes to manufacture proteins.
  • The ribosome reads the messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence and translates that genetic code into a specified string of amino acids, which grow into long chains that fold to form proteins.
  • The newly formed proteins detach themselves from the ribosome site and migrate to other parts of the cell for use.

What is mRNA?

• mRNA is a type of single-stranded RNA involved in protein synthesis.
• mRNA is made from a DNA template during the process of transcription.
• The role of mRNA is to carry protein information from the DNA in a cell’s nucleus to the cell’s cytoplasm(watery interior), where the protein-making machinery reads the mRNA sequence and translates each three-base codon into its corresponding amino acid in a growing protein chain.
• So, mRNA really is a form of nucleic acid which helps the human genome, which is coded in DNA, to be read by the cellular machinery.