Translation takes place on ribosomes; indeed, ribosomes can be thought of as moving protein-synthesizing machines. A ribosome attaches near the 5′ end of an mRNA strand and moves toward the 3′ end, translating the codons as it goes. Synthesis begins at the amino end of the protein, and the protein …

The process of transcription is very similar in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but there are major differences in the relation between the transcript and the mRNA used for polypeptide synthesis in eukaryotes. In prokaryotes, the immediate product of transcription (the primary transcript) is mRNA; by contrast, the primary transcript (also called …

The four bases in DNA – A, T, G, and C are sufficient to specify the 20 amino acids in proteins because each codon is three bases in length. Each sequence of three adjacent bases in mRNA is a codon that specifies a particular amino acid (or chain termination). The …