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From DNA to Protein

From DNA to Protein

The flow of genetic information in cells from DNA to mRNA to protein is described by the central dogma, which states that genes specify the sequence of mRNAs, which in turn specify the sequence of amino acids making up all proteins. The decoding of one molecule to another is performed by specific proteins and RNAs. Because the information stored in DNA is so central to cellular function, it makes intuitive sense that the cell would make mRNA copies of this information for protein synthesis...

The Central Dogma

The Central Dogma

The Central Dogma

The Central Dogma

The central dogma explains the flow of genetic information from DNA nucleotides to the amino acid sequence of proteins.
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In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

What is Genetic Engineering?

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 21, 2026

A Facile Protocol to Generate Site-Specifically Acetylated Proteins in Escherichia Coli

A Facile Protocol to Generate Site-Specifically Acetylated Proteins in Escherichia Coli

Published on: December 9, 2017

Expanding and reprogramming the genetic code.

Jason W Chin^1,2

¹Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.

|October 6, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Scientists are expanding the protein building blocks beyond nature's standard set. This genetic code expansion allows for novel protein engineering, creating new therapeutics and enabling advanced research tools.

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Last Updated: Feb 21, 2026

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Area of Science:

Biochemistry and synthetic biology
Protein engineering and molecular biology

Background:

Proteins are synthesized from a limited set of amino acids by nature.
Genetic encoding of expanded building blocks offers new chemical properties for proteins.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the engineering and rewiring of translation.
To reprogram the genetic code for novel biopolymer synthesis and evolution.
To test the limits of translational machinery engineering and genome recoding.

Main Methods:

Engineering translation systems
Rewiring genetic codes
Developing strategies for genome recoding

Main Results:

Expanded set of building blocks enables new protein properties.
Transformation of protein study, manipulation, and evolution.
Enabling applications in probing, imaging, and controlling protein function.
Precise engineering of therapeutics.

Conclusions:

Genetic code expansion is transforming protein science.
Emerging strategies aim to reprogram translation for novel biopolymers.
Potential to engineer translational machinery and systematically recode genomes.