How does DNA determine an organism’s characteristics? A process called translation decodes RNA created during transcription, and uses it to create proteins that perform specific cellular functions.

A pink ribosome surrounds part of a red-and-yellow helix-shaped strand of messenger RNA while a yellow protein branch extends from the ribosome. A graphic representation of a ribosome (pink) ...

DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA carries the genetic code to the ribosome, the cell’s protein-making machinery. Ribosomes read the mRNA sequence, and as the ribosome moves along the ...

All living things on Earth use a version of the same genetic code. Every cell makes proteins using the same 20 amino acids. Ribosomes, the protein-making machinery within cells, read the genetic code ...

While humans have an esthetic liking for symmetry in everything, nature prefers asymmetric, single-handed forms when it comes to amino acids—the building blocks of proteins, and, by extension, all ...