Skip to main content
. 2019 Oct 11;63(4):433–456. doi: 10.1042/EBC20180038

Figure 16. Protein synthesis.

Figure 16

(A) During initiation, the mRNA recruits a tRNA charged with a methionine and the small ribosomal subunit, (B) the large subunit then docks to give the translation complex, (C) a tRNA with an amino acid attached enters the A site, (D) the peptide bond is formed between the amino acid in the P site and the one in the A site. The effect is that the growing peptide chain is transferred to the incoming aminoacyl tRNA in the A site leaving an empty tRNA in the P site. (E) Finally, everything moves along the mRNA by one codon in a process called translocation so the peptidyl tRNA with the growing peptide chain attached moves to the P site and the spent tRNA to the E site from where it leaves the ribosome. (F) When a stop codon is in the A site, a termination or release factor enters the A site, (G) the peptide is released from the ribosome and (H) the two subunits of the ribosome disassociate and are recycled.