Cognate tRNA
Near-cognate tRNA
Nascent peptide
Events
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This simulator renders a single ribosome moving codon by codon along an mRNA and models the real molecular decision it makes at every step: which aminoacyl-tRNA gets to donate its amino acid to the growing peptide chain. Rather than a single binding equilibrium, the ribosome uses two sequential, energy-spending kinetic checks -- initial selection before GTP hydrolysis by EF-Tu, then a second proofreading check afterward -- and because the two checks are independent their discrimination factors multiply. You control the competing pool of cognate versus near-cognate tRNAs, the stringency of the proofreading step, and whether the current codon is common or rare, and watch live readouts of elongation rate, cumulative misincorporation rate, and per-codon dwell time respond exactly as the kinetic-proofreading model predicts.