Ribosomes

Ribosomes are the organelles that synthesize proteins vital for many cellular processes. They are complex molecular machines found in all living cells. Their shape is spherical and they are made up of ribosomal RNA and proteins. These organelles can be found in two forms: free in the cytoplasm or associated with the membranes of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and perform their function of making protein molecules by joining amino acids. However, ribosomes follow the order specified by messenger RNA that transfers the genetic code from nuclear DNA to indicate the order in which amino acids should be linked. Ribosomes have two parts, the smaller subunit that is responsible for reading the RNA and the larger subunit whose function is to put the amino acids together to create a peptide chain.