What is a Ribosome?
Ribosomes are small organelles found in the cells of all life forms. They are quite small, only a few hundred nanometers across. It has been theorized that ribosomes were once independent life forms, reproducing on their own, until other chemicals such as carbohydrates and DNA were brought into the fold at a later time. Ribosomes are composed of rRNA (ribosomal RNA, or ribonucleic acid) and other catalytic proteins. Their main function is to produce a variety of proteins from simple genetic instructions which propagate outwards from the cellular nucleolus in the form of messenger RNA (mRNA). Ribosomes float in the cytoplasm of a cell or bind to the endoplasmic reticulum, ribbon-like structures found within the cell. Ribosomes are sometimes referred to as simply RNA. Like DNA, they are long chains of amino acids, but their base pairs are different and they are usually not as long as DNA. Ribosomes play a key part in protein synthesis, the process that generates organic tissue. Genetic i
The ribosome is an enormous molecule responsible for translating the messages carried in the genetic code of all organisms into the workhorse molecules of the cell proteins that carry out all functions, including replicating the genome itself. As the world celebrates the bicentennial anniversary of the Father of Evolution, Charles Darwin, Prof. Steinberg’s theory brings the scientific community even deeper into the study of the origins of life. By examining the molecular self-organizing processes that preceded the living cell, the point where time begins for biologists, Prof. Steinberg goes further than Darwin and the many evolutionary biologists who followed could have imagined. By the standards of biological molecules, ribosomes are immense. Though visible only through lenses of the most powerful microscopes, comparing most other biological molecules to this behemoth is like comparing a tricycle to a jumbo jet. Having spent years gazing at the detailed structure of the ribosome, Prof
The ribosome is an enormous molecule responsible for translating the messages carried in the genetic code of all organisms into the workhorse molecules of the cell – proteins – that carry out all functions, including replicating the genome itself. As the world celebrates the bicentennial anniversary of the Father of Evolution, Charles Darwin, Prof. Steinberg’s theory brings the scientific community even deeper into the study of the origins of life. By examining the molecular self-organizing processes that preceded the living cell, the point where time begins for biologists, Prof. Steinberg goes further than Darwin and the many evolutionary biologists who followed could have imagined. By the standards of biological molecules, ribosomes are immense. Though visible only through lenses of the most powerful microscopes, comparing most other biological molecules to this behemoth is like comparing a tricycle to a jumbo jet. Having spent years gazing at the detailed structure of the ribosome,
