Image/Site for Bioinformatics

    This 3-D image is of a protein. A protein is made up of a chain of amino acids that are linked together into a polypeptide. To make this chain, mRNA (messenger RNA) codes a sequence of nucleotides from a strand of DNA. The mRNA travels to a ribosome, the site where proteins are made. Next, tRNA (transfer RNA), attached with an amino acid, pairs with the base sequence of the mRNA. Every set of three letters codes for a particular amino acid. As the tRNA connects, the amino acids line up and connect to each other with a peptide bond. The reaction stops when the stop codon is reached. The amino acids are released and fold into a protein.
    This image is located on the site "Biocomputing in a Nutshell," and can be found at http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/bcd/ForAll/Basics/welcome.html.

                                                                                                                                 - Kelly Hoberg