Central dogma
DNA to RNA to protein — the basic flow that makes a gene–drug story possible.
The central dogma of molecular biology is a simple map: DNA is transcribed to RNA, and RNA is translated to protein. Most medicines meet a protein — a receptor, an enzyme, a transporter. A spelling change in DNA can change that protein, and that can change the drug.
That is the reason pharmacogenomics exists. We do not need the whole dogma lecture in a report. We do need the clinician to trust that a named variant was measured and linked to a dosing note. CPIC sits on top of this biology. It does not replace it.
- DNA: the stored sequence.
- RNA: the working copy.
- Protein: the machine the drug often meets.
- PGx: when a DNA difference changes that meeting.
Exceptions exist — RNA viruses, non-coding RNA, epigenetics. They do not cancel the map. They add lanes. For a patient holding a 30M PDF, the useful line is still: this marker, this drug, this clinician decision.