Synthesis of Proteins and Nucleic Acids

Why is protein synthesis so different from that of polysaccharides or lipids The actual chemistry of the formation of peptide bonds between amino acids is of the type of reaction that we are already quite familiar with. Two amino acids can link together with the removal of water to form a di peptide  

Let us summarize the situation as it appeared to the biochemists, geneticists, and cyberneticists by about 1950. The problem was how to assemble a series of up to 300 amino acids head to tail along a peptide chain so that the order of the amino acids along the chain 

Experimental evidence backs up theory in ruling out this stepwise enzymic synthesis of protein. If protein were made by a 

Such an answer to the riddle satisfied biochemists, geneticists, and cyberneticists alike. A mould or template for protein synthesis was predicted by the biochemical requirements, whilst, if it could be shown that the template was under genetic control, the clue to how information on protein structure is transferred from cell to cell would be found. What would be the requirements of a template It must be a macromolecule related in length to the 

There remain the nucleic acids as possible templates. DNA and RNA are macromolecular chains often many times greater in length than proteins. They are composed of a set of four different bases arranged in a complex but ordered pattern along their chain length. Such bases could easily be organized into a sequence of sites that could discriminate between amino acids, and could thus fulfil the criteria we have laid down for the template. Thus the proposition that the nucleic acids form a template on which proteins are synthesized makes biochemical sense. 

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This great structural variety, however, complicates the specific biosynthesis of complex oligosaccharides. In general, the formation of each saccharide linkage requires specific enzymes ( one linkage—more than one enzyme ) and thus, in comparison with the enzymic synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids, much more effort is needed. 

GH has been shown to have many different metabolic effects. Which of these contribute directly to its growth-promoting activity is not clear. The hormone stimulates synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids in a wide range of tissues. It has actions on carbohydrate metabolism, including both diabetogenic and insulin-like actions, and also has effects on lipid metabolism, particularly in man. Overall, GH tends to switch metabolism from utilization of carbohydrate to utilization of fat [14], although there are marked differences between species in the relative importance of actions on different aspects of metabolism. 

GSH is necessary for the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids, and for the processing of leukotrienes and prostaglandins ... 

There appears to be considerable evidence that folic acid is essential for growth and development, as well as hemopoiesis. This is presumably because of its role in the synthesis of protein and nucleic acids. In the synthesis of protein folic acid appears to facilitate the ability of the body to use formate for the production of amino acids (Plant et aZ. ° ). It is thought that both folic acid and vitamin B12 are concerned in the synthesis of desoxyribonucleic acid (Woods ). 

Because of the subordinate character of this material on the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids, I do not propose to examine the problems and difficulties, or to paint a complete picture of all the relevant issues. I shall simply discuss briefly, in the manner... 

Stano, P., Carrara, P., Kuruma, Y., Souza, T.P., Luisi, Pi. Compartmentalized reactions as a case of soft-matter biotechnology Synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids inside lipid vesicles. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 18887-18902 (2011)... 

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