AMINO ACIDS ARE SURRENDERED
by Arthur W. Siebens, Ph.D., Copyright 1999
(to the tune of "No Retreat, No Surrender," by Bruce Springsteen)

Pa-pa, pa, pa, pa-pa, pa, pa, pa-pa proteins
Ribosomes are protein-making machines

Now, transcription's the process of reading genes
The DNA with the protein's code
And making messenger RNA (by RNA polymerase) with its genetic payload
The message goes to the ribosome where it initiates
It binds to the small subunit and uses AUG as bait
The anticodon on transfer RNA carrying fMet
Binds to the initiator codon, the large subunit is next.

The central dogma is the name of the game
Transcribe the DNA into messenger RNA
With the message at the ribosome amino acids are surrendered
In translation* -is that too hard to remember?

With initiation now complete, the protein must elongate
Amino acids are added by tRNA's at a staggering rate**
Codons set the sequence, there's making of peptide bonds (by peptidyl transferase)
tRNA's released, recycled, as the ribosome moves along
tRNA's keep landing at the "A" (aminoacyl) site,
Keep releasing from the "P" (peptide)
'Til the transcript is read, and elongation is complete.

Now, transfer RNA is the great translator
Drags an amino acid to the ribosome like a molecular freighter
Its anticodon reads the codon, its amino acid is surrendered
In translation-is that too hard to remember?

When a stop codon is reached, the protein is released
The "A" site binds a release factor, the two (ribosomal) subunits leave
So that's termination-this song's almost through too
Except aminoacyl tRNA synthetases have not received their just due
They load tRNA's with amino acids, allow them to translate
If you're a molecular freighter, you've got to carry the right freight.

The central dogma is the name of the game
Transcribe the DNA into messenger RNA
With the message at the ribosome amino acids are surrendered
In translation--is that too hard to remember?
No, ribosomal work is easy to remember!
Yes, protein synthesis is EASY to remember!

* An easy way to remember transcription versus translation is to relate them to a written record of a meeting: a transcript is in the same language as the speakers (i.e., nucleotides, DNA to RNA) whereas a translation is in a different language (i.e., nucleotides to amino acids).
** About 17 amino acids per second (N.A. Campbell, Biology, 1993, p.330).