What is the role of nucleic acids in the synthesis of proteins?
1. Nucleic acids are naturally occurring chemical compounds that serve as the primary information-carrying molecules in cells.
2. Nucleic acids play an especially important role in directing protein synthesis.
3. The two main classes of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
4. The specific sequence of bases in DNA indicates coded instructions to manufacture particular proteins.
5. Information in the DNA is passed to another nucleic acid in the process, which is called messenger RNA. It exits the nucleus for the cytoplasm of the cell.
6. Messenger RNA serves as a template to incorporate amino acids in the correct sequence in proteins.
7. Then the amino acids are brought to the messenger RNA in the cell, by the transfer RNA to form peptide bonds.
8. DNA contains the coded message for the synthesis of protein, but actually, RNA performs the synthesis of protein.