How Did Ribosomes Get Its Name?

How did ribosomes get its name? Before this question is answered, it is important to understand ribosomes and their function in the body.

Before cells divide, the DNA has to replicate so that the new cells have identical chromosomes. Messenger RNA takes the DNA sequence to the ribosomes, who read the information so they can make proteins out of amino acids.

Now, to further clarify that, here are explanations of some words that you may not know:

• DNA is Deoxyribonucleic acid and contains our genetic information. Its role is to store this information as this is used to build proteins and RNA molecules.
• RNA is Ribonucleic acid is very similar to DNA with some important differences. It is a single strand, not a double one like DNA.

RNA is transcribed from DNA and is essential to the process of building protein.  Messenger RNA delivers the instructions from the DNA to the ribosomes. Transfer RNA adds amino acids to the protein chain being made by the ribosomes. Ribosomes take the blueprint from the messenger RNA and make proteins from amino acids.

The answer to the question, “How did ribosomes get its name?” will be better understood with further explanation. Proteins are essential for almost every function inside cells. It is a chain of molecules made from amino acids. When animals digest proteins, amino acids are released that are used in the animal’s metabolism.

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein as they contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. They are essential to life and have many functions in metabolism.

Here is the total process:

1. The messenger RNA takes the blueprint from the DNA and gives it to the ribosomes, which take that information and make proteins out of amino acids with the help of transfer RNA.
2. The amino acids are attached to the transfer RNA which enters one part of the ribosome and binds to the messenger RNA sequence.
3. The ribosome then moves along the messenger RNA, reads its sequence, and makes a chain of amino acids.  

How Did Ribosomes Get Its Name?

Not much was known about cell structure and function before the invention of the electron microscope. Without that, we would not know about ribosomes and their job of making proteins in the cells.

In 1955, George Palade, a cell biologist, along with Philip Siekevitz, discovered ribosomes and identified their function as making proteins. He continued his research and in 1974, received the Nobel Prize, along with others, in Physiology or Medicine.

Ribosome gets its name from “ribonucleoprotein particles” and “microsomes” which are both particles inside the cell.Since these are lengthy and neither one explains ribosomes perfectly, Richard B. Roberts, at a symposium in 1958, suggested “ribosome.” Ribosome refers to ribonucleoprotein particles in sizes ranging from 35 to 100S.

George Palade

George Palade was born in Jassy, the old capital of Moldavia, in 1912. His father was a professor of philosophy and his mother was a teacher. He entered the School of Medicine of the University of Bucharest in 1930. He was drawn to the medical sciences early in his studies and started working in the anatomy laboratory while still in school. He moved to the United States in 1946 and worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in the pathology department. Soon he began working with the electron microscope.

By the mid 1950s, he worked on finding out the chemical composition of cells and their functions. Along with Philip Siekevitz, ribosomes were discovered. The rest of his life was filled with research, discoveries, and awards, including the Nobel Prize.

He developed a technique called cell fractionation, where cells are broken apart so parts of them can be isolated and studied. He received the Lasker Award, the Gairdner Special Award, and the Hurwitz Prize which he shared with Albert Claude and Keith Porter. Palade died in 2008 at the age of 95.