DNA is essentially a storage molecule . Within its genes , it contains all of the instructions that a cell needs to sustain itself .
In order to be implemented , the instructions contained within the genes must be expressed - copied into a form that can be used by cells to produce the proteins needed to support life .
The ‘ Central Dogma of Molecular Biology ’ is the process by which the instructions in DNA are converted into a functional product .
● The central dogma explains the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA , to make a functional product - a protein .
● The central dogma suggests that DNA contains all of the information needed to make all of our proteins , and that RNA is a messenger that carries this information to ribosomes .
● Ribosomes serve as factories in the cell where the information is ‘ translated ’ from a code into the functional product .
● The process by which the DNA instructions are converted into the functional product is called gene expression .
● Gene expression has two key stages - transcription and translation .
● In transcription , the information in the DNA of every cell is converted into small , portable RNA messages .
● During translation , these messages are ‘ read ’ to make specific proteins .
● The central dogma states that the flow of information that occurs most frequently in our cells is :
• From existing DNA to make new DNA ( DNA replication ).
• From DNA to make RNA ( transcription ).
• From RNA to make proteins ( translation ).