Three general classes of RNA molecules are involved in expressing the genes encoded within a cell's DNA. read more
Each of these RNA forms is involved in different steps of protein synthesis. mRNA is generated from DNA and is the template for protein synthesis. tRNA is critical to the translation of the mRNA sequence into protein sequence. rRNA are components of the ribosomes, which are the sites of protein synthesis. read more
Protein synthesis begins with the formation of an initiation complex. In E. coli, this complex involves the small 30S ribosome, the mRNA template, three initiation factors (IFs; IF-1, IF-2, and IF-3), and a special initiator tRNA, called tRNAMetf. read more