Question

How does the tRNA know where to dock on the mRNA?

Answer 1

You mean where does the tRNA know where to dock on the ribosome?

Answer 2

It matches the letters together.

There are two rules:

A goes with U
G goes with C

So for example...

if the mRNA is (A G U).
then the tRNA that docks on it would be (U C A)

See, look here:

mRNA -- A G U
tRNA -- U C A

You see how they both line up with each other?

Since the first mRNA letter is A....
the first tRNA letter has to be U.

Again, there are two rules:

A goes with U
G goes with C

I've attached a picture to show you.

Answer 3

Thanks :) it wasn't clearly answered in my book

Answer 4

No problem. =)