Explain briefly how mutations in the genome can lead to cancer. In your answer refer to and explain the process of protein synthesis.

The central dogma of modern genetics is simple: DNA - RNA - Protein (and, due to reverse transcriptase, RNA - DNA). It can therefore be seen that alterations in DNA sequence can have the downstream effect of alterations in protein amino acid sequence. During protein synthesis, RNA polymerase unwinds the DNA exposing a single strand. From this strand a complementary strand of messenger RNA (mRNA) is produced, catalysed by both the RNA Pol and Watson-Crick base pair interactions. This is transcription. The mRNA can move from the nucleus and iris bound by the ribosome, which catalyses translation. During translation, transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules, which are bound to an amino acid, can bind to the mRNA via a complementary sequence. The ribosome then catalyses peptide bond formation between two adjacent amino acids, thus extending the amino acid chain. The folding of this chain into the correct tertiary structure results in a protein.Mutations causing cancer can come in many forms. Single base pair mutations, for example, may result in the incorrect amino acid being incorporated into the polypeptide, disrupting protein folding, termination chain extension or prohibiting protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions. Deletions can remove whole sections of the protein, or just misalign the triplet code. This can cause every amino acid downstream to be altered, and can have catastrophic effects on the protein. Insertions can have similar effects. If these mutations occur in tumour suppressor genes or oncogenes function can be lost or gained, leading to cancer.