... detail. The pathway of translation is divided into three main steps; initiation, elongation and termination. The mRNA has a protein coding region which is composed of a non-overlapping string of codons called an open reading frame. At the beginning of the open reading frame is a start codon and at the end there is a stop codon. In eukaryotes the start codon is always 5'-AUG-3' and specifies the first amino acid and defines the reading frame for the rest of the codons. Near all eurkaryotic mRNA only contains a single open reading frame and therefore are monocistronic mRNA. Also the mRNAs have a 5'cap end that bind ribosomes with the help of initiating proteins. The initiation process involves the large and small units of ribosomes. Ribosomes are megadalton molecules that are composed of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and ribosomal proteins. The ribosomes direct protein synthesis by translating mRNA into a polypeptide ...

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