proteins
9.4 | Translation By the end of this section, you will be able to: Describe the different steps in protein synthesis Discuss the role of ribosomes in protein synthesis Describe the genetic code and how the nucleotide sequence determines the amino acid and the protein sequence The synthesis of proteins is one of a cells most energy-consuming metabolic processes. In turn, proteins account for more mass than any other component of living organisms with the exception of water , and proteins perform a wide variety of the functions of a cell. The process of translation, or protein synthesis, involves decoding an mRNA message into a polypeptide product. Amino acids are covalently strung together in lengths ranging from approximately 50 amino acids to more than 1,000.