mRNA Translation (Advanced)

Indeed. I had read about it before but viewing these visualizations blew my mind: [LINK] (DNA transcription) [VIDEO] (mRNA translation) [LINK] (DNA replication)

Some amazing animations that show some of the primary operations related to DNA: Transcription (copying sections of DNA into RNA) - [LINK] Translation (turning messenger RNA into proteins) - [VIDEO] RNA Splicing (removing non-coding sections of mRNA) - [LINK] DNA Wrapping & Replication(two part video) - [LINK] One thing I would encourage folks to do as you listen to the narration of these is to consider any time words are used that imply agency and remember that these are basically blobs of magnets in a jostling goo. You'll find the names Drew Berry and WEHI referenced in most of these. There are many more stunning and IMHO profoundly informative examples of biological machinery from them on youtube.

The RNA->protein translation process is pretty awesome. Here's a very informative video: [VIDEO] Also Wikipedia page on the ribosome has a good description if you're patient enough to read through.

Apologies if I spam this stuff too much but I'm so intrigued by the dynamic complexity of this whole thing. The following three videos describe the process of DNA Transcription (copying a single gene's worth of RNA from the DNA strand), Translation (subject of TFA, creation of the protein from that RNA), and Replication (the process of making a complete copy of DNA for purposes of cell division. Keep in mind that the functional components you see in here are themselves (generally) proteins that are created (and have evolved) by a similar process. Transcription - [LINK] Translation - [VIDEO] Replication - [LINK]

It’s broader than that actually, this is a generalized protein factory. This is how mRNA is created by the cells in your body to create the proteins needed to keep you alive (aka transcription): [LINK] This is how mRNA is then used to create proteins, either from strands manufactured by your own cells, those coming from viruses that have infected your body, or from mRNA vaccines (aka translation): [VIDEO] Not directly related, but here is an amazing video showing how HIV infection works, including parts you will now recognize from the above: [LINK]

These might interest you then: 3d visualizations of cellular processes in real time. I was shown them in my intro to biology class, which filled me with the same interest. Transcriptase: [LINK] DNA polymerase: [LINK] The Ribosome: [VIDEO]

Only tangentially related, but because they are so amazing here are a few videos that illustrate the process of transcription (creating mRNA from DNA) and translation (creating a protein from mRNA). [LINK] [VIDEO] The common complaint with these videos is that everything is more complex. One thing that isn't evident is that these specific videos (built mostly by Drew Barry) actually model a lot of other molecules to create a more realistic physical environment with brownian motion and whatnot. Then the irrelevant molecules are simply made transparent in the rendering. Obviously it's still much much more complex (eg the constant stream of ATP used to drive many of these operations is not illustrated). There are these and many more great illustrations/explanations at WEHImovies on youtube [LINK]

[LINK] "modern medicine" isn't perfect, it's good and getting better every day, but we have a long way to go. Plus, we don't know for sure what modifying our DNA does. It might affect certain things, but it might also have unknown consequences. There is a ton of trial and error in science, and you don't want to have too many errors in your body, else it leads to cancer and other horrible things. Lots of mice have given their lives to ensure that we and our children live awesome healthy lives. Thank you lab-rats (and other animals), you have suffered for our benefit (though you didn't have much of a choice). Also, it's really really difficult and really tiny, [VIDEO] but there are several teams working on it and many other approaches.