The instructions for building a protein are located within the DNA in the form of a specific sequence of

nucleotides through the process of transcription. This sequence of nucleotides in a gene is transcribed or
copied into an RNA form to make a molecule of messenger RNA in the process of translation, translation
machinery including a ribosome and tRNA molecules reads the mRNA molecule and translates the
nucleotide language into a sequence of amino acids linked together to form a polypeptide. Once
constructed, the polypeptide will fold into a protein.

The answer is in the codon. We interpret mRNA in a series of three nucleotides at a time called a codon.
A single codon will correspond to a specific amino acid. So we move along an mRNA strand, reading
groups of three nucleotides at a time, each corresponding to a specific amino acid.

We complete this process of translation using the genetic code. So in this chart, we can see every
possible codon, nucleotide combination, and amino acid each codon corresponds to. The amino acids in
this chart are listed using their three-letter codes. For example, met is the three-letter code for methionine,
an amino acid. Now, this code is the same code used in translation for all living organisms.

In this way, the code you're seeing here is universal. So when we look at this chart, we notice a few
things. First, the code is redundant. Multiple different codons will code for the same amino acid. Here you
can see that the codons UU and UUC both will code for the amino acid PHE, which is phenylalanine.

We also notice that the code is nonambiguous. Each codon codes for one and only one amino acid.
There's no question which amino acid is going to be coded for by a single specific codon in the mRNA. A
few other things you may notice in this genetic code is that we have start and stop codons that signal the
beginning and the end of the coding portion of the mRNA strand. As you scan an mRNA molecule, the
translation will not start until you find a start codon, which is always the codon aug coding for methionine.

This means that every polypeptide coming out of translation will have methionine as its first amino acid.
This methionine may be removed before the protein folds. You move through the mRNA from the start
codon, reading and translating the codons one after another until you find one of these three stop codons.
The stop codons signal the end of the coding portion of the mRNA and are the end of translation. Unlike
the start codon, the stop codons don't code for an amino acid.

So let's do a little translating practice. Here we have an mRNA molecule to translate into a polypeptide. I'll
scan for the start codon, then I'll consult my chart for all the remaining codons until I reach the stop
codon. So I scan, and I find the start codon Aug, which codes for the amino acid me, T, or Methionine if I
consult my chart. I then move to the next codon, CCG, which codes for the amino acid PR O, which is
proline.

Then we have CGA coding for Arginine, Gug coding for Valine, and then UCG coding for Serine. And
then finally we hit UGA, which does not code for an amino acid. It's simply a stop codon signaling the end
of translation. Any codon after the stop codon does not get translated. At this point, translated the full
mRNA molecules into a sequence of amino acids that will make up a polypeptide that will then be
modified and folded into a protein to use in the cell.

In reality, the mRNA molecule will be much longer than this, with many more codons resulting in a
polypeptide chain that contains many more amino acids. For example, the enzyme Rubisco, which is
used in photosynthesis, is made up of around 500 amino acids.