Central Dogma of Molecular Biology (https://vimeo.com/178754362)

central_dogma_of_molecular_biology.rb

# https://vimeo.com/178754362

# Central Dogma of Molecular Biology
# DNA --transcription--> RNA --translation--> proteins (which give us traits... and other stuff :)

# DNA is an arbitrarily long sequence of 4 molecules
#   whose initials whose initials are A, T, G, and C
#   A pairs with T
#   C pairs with G
A = 'A'  # => "A"
T = 'T'  # => "T"
G = 'G'  # => "G"
C = 'C'  # => "C"

# RNA is an arbitrarily long sequence of 4 molecules
#   whose initials whose initials are A, U, G, and C
U = 'U'

# Transcription maps DNA into RNA via a protein named "RNA Polymerase"
def transcribe(dna)
  dna.map do |nucleotide|
    case nucleotide
    when 'A' then 'A'
    when 'T' then 'U'
    when 'C' then 'C'
    when 'G' then 'G'
    end
  end
end

dna = [T, C, A, G, G, T]   # => ["T", "C", "A", "G", "G", "T"]
rna = transcribe dna       # => ["U", "C", "A", "G", "G", "U"]


# Translation maps every 3 RNA nucleotides into an amino acid
#   and that "array" of amino acids is what makes a protein
#   The 3 RNA nucleotides are called a "codon"
def translation(rna)
  rna.each_slice(3).map do |codon|
    if codon == ["U", "C", "A"]
      'Serine'
    elsif codon == ["G", "G", "U"]
      'Glycine'
    else raise codon.inspect
    end
  end
end
amino_acids = translation rna # => ["Serine", "Glycine"]


# Finally, the amino acids "fold" up based on chemistry
# that folded up amino acid strand is our protein