How are proteins made?
A basic understanding of this is necessary to understand the therapeutic approach discussed later.The genes we inherit from our parents contain genetic code called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This can be likened to a string made up of 4 different letters (ATGC) arranged in a particular order that is unique for each gene. This genetic code is read to form proteins. These letters can be compared to our alphabet as different combinations of letters can create thousands of different words.To make a protein there are three essential steps:i) a copy of the coded DNA is made (called transcription),ii) this copy is edited to remove any non-essential information (called splicing),iii) the remaining code is read by the cells machinery in groups of three letters (called translation) to form the protein. These groups of threes make up the reading frame.These steps can be explained using an example of letters of the alphabet:THEWTOMMANATIANDPIQHISURDIDOGITRANOVINFORTRIATHEDOOPIBUSAs you can see, t
