Ribosomes - Protein Construction Teams

Ribosomes are found in many places around the cell. You might find them floating in the cytoplasm (cytosol). Those floating ribosomes make proteins that will be used inside of the cell. Other ribosomes are found on the endoplasmic reticulum. Endoplasmic reticulum with attached ribosomes is called rough. It looks bumpy under a microscope. Those attached ribosomes make proteins that will be used inside the cell and proteins made for export out of the cell.
Two Pieces Make the Whole

The 60-S/ 40-S model works fine for eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cells have ribosomes made of 50-S and 30-S subunits. It's a small difference, but one of many you will find in the two different types of cells. Scientists have used this difference in ribosome size to develop drugs that can kill prokaryotic microorganisms that cause disease.
Mixing and Matching Amino Acids
The process of making proteins is quite simple. We just explained that mRNA is made in the nucleus and sent into the cell. The mRNA then combines with the ribosome subunits. Another nucleic acid lives in the cell - tRNA, which stands for transfer RNA. tRNA is bonded to the amino acids floating around the cell. With the mRNA offering instructions, the ribosome connects to a tRNA and pulls off one amino acid. Slowly the ribosome makes a long amino acid chain that will be part of a larger protein.
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