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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Nov;108(11):1888–1895. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2008.08.014

Figure 1. Information flow between nucleic acids and proteins.

Figure 1

The principal pathway is from DNA to mRNA to proteins (the bold lines) and is mediated by a bevy of proteins including RNA polymerase and those of the translational apparatus. However, it is well appreciated that enzymes control the synthesis of both DNA and RNA (their control is represented by the dotted lines). Information flows from RNA to DNA by the action of reverse transcriptase. Kinases regulate the phosphorylation status of the elongation-initiation factor 2-guanosine triphosphate (eIF2-GTP) complex. Large scale regulation of the genes that are expressed in a cell at a particular time in our lifetime is determined by the post-translational modification of histones, basic proteins that bind tightly to DNA. Deacetylation of histones leads to the suppression of gene expression.