In order to understand how cannabis plants express phenotype, especially when a plant herms, we have to understand the process of how proteins are created which create phenotype. The central dogma is DNA -> RNA -> Protein which means phenotypical expression or protein creation starts with DNA then goes to RNA then gets made into protein. This process happens in two main steps that are used by ALL living organisms to build bodies.
Defining Terms:
Transcription - the process of creating copies of DNA sequences/genes to be used as a blueprint to build specific proteins (phenotypes)
Translation - the process of using the blueprint (mRNA) from transcription to build proteins by assembling amino acids like a car factory (ribosomes are the factories that build the protein)
It is easy to confuse the words, transcription and translation, so the best way to differentiate them is to understand their prefixes.
Transcription means to transcribe which means to put something in written form. During transcription, proteins transcribe DNA coding into a written form that ribosomes can read like a blueprint to build proteins. DNA is being transcribed in transcription
Translation means to change from one form to the next usually associated with language. During translation, ribosomes read the blueprint (mRNA) and translate that coding into its corresponding amino acids. This process ends with a long chain of specific amino acids that represent the coding on the blueprint and ultimately the gene it was taken from on the DNA. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
In the image and description below, you can see both processes as they function in a cell. The numbers and letters in the description correspond to the image just as base pairs (codons) on mRNA correspond to specific amino acids.
1. Transcription transcribes genes on DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA)
A: is an mRNA strand that was just copied from DNA and is being sent as a blueprint to a ribosome
2. Translation translates base pairs on the blueprint (mRNA) into corresponding amino acids
B: is a ribosome that acts like a factory that translates base pairs into amino acids which ultimately build protein.
C: amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are combined to build protein by the ribosome during translation
D: proteins make up most of the structures that define a phenotype
Understanding this process is important because it is how living organisms are built. It doesn't matter if you are a frog, human, mushroom, or bacteria. The only difference between me and a frog are the blueprints sent to our ribosomes. The frog's blueprints had instructions to build a frog and mine had instructions to build a human. The central dogma (DNA -> RNA -> Protein)
applies to all life and is foundational to how cannabis plants express phenotype.
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