The synthesis of proteins is an energetically expensive, complicated process consisting of three parts: initiation, elongation, and termination. In initiation, the translation machinery must locate the correct Start codon. In elongation, the codons are read sequentially in the 5′-to-3′ direction as the protein is synthesized from the amino end to the carboxyl end. When a termination codon is reached, special proteins hydrolyze the polypeptide from the last transfer RNA, releasing the completed protein. The translation machinery comes apart and is ready to begin another round of protein synthesis.