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Picking up the code

If you read all the sections before this one, you are probably wondering, "What do we mean, 'the DNA codes for protein'?" You probably have no clue what we were talking about in Genetics I. But now, that you're reading this portion of the website, we have good news for you - this is the chapter where you will learn how protein is made!

As you read in the last section, DNA can split into two helixes. This has to happen for the process transcription to begin. Transcription basically mean that the DNA is copied into messenger RNA (mRNA).

The DNA unzips and the body starts creating a mRNA. The way this happens is much like replication. The body "knows" that only A can bond with T (and only C can bond with G) in DNA. Since U is used is place of Ts in RNA, the body basically creates the strand of DNA, the Us in place of Ts, therefore making RNA. The new coil of mRNA is a mirror-image copy of the DNA segment. It doesn't bond with the DNA, but instead, moves out into the cytoplasm, or the part of the cell that is not the nucleus or the cell walls. The mRNA is transcribed from the DNA, hence the name transcription.

To see the DNA in one cell go through transcription in action, click here (Note: requires Shockwave).

Introduction
Replication/Mitosis/Meiosis
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Translation