Question

Give me a quick discription of what happens in transcription

Answer 1

Transcription is the first step of gene expression, in which a particular segment of DNA is copied into RNA (especially mRNA) by the enzyme RNA polymerase. Both DNA and RNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairsof nucleotides as a complementary language. During transcription, a DNA sequence is read by an RNA polymerase, which produces a complementary, antiparallel RNA strand called a primary transcript.

Transcription proceeds in the following general steps:

RNA polymerase, together with one or more general transcription factors, binds to promoter DNA.

RNA polymerase creates a transcription bubble, which separates the two strands of the DNA helix. This is done by breaking the hydrogen bonds between complementary DNA nucleotides.

RNA polymerase adds RNA nucleotides (which are complementary to the nucleotides of one DNA strand).

RNA sugar-phosphate backbone forms with assistance from RNA polymerase to form an RNA strand.

Hydrogen bonds of the RNA–DNA helix break, freeing the newly synthesized RNA strand.

If the cell has a nucleus, the RNA may be further processed. This may include polyadenylation, capping, and splicing.

The RNA may remain in the nucleus or exit to the cytoplasm through the nuclear porecomplex.

The stretch of DNA transcribed into an RNA molecule is called a transcription unit and encodes at least one gene. If the gene encodes a protein, the transcription produces messenger RNA (mRNA); the mRNA, in turn, serves as a template for the protein's synthesis through translation. Alternatively, the transcribed gene may encode for non-coding RNA such as microRNA, ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), or enzymatic RNA molecules called ribozymes.[1]Overall, RNA helps synthesize, regulate, and process proteins; it therefore plays a fundamental role in performing functions within a cell.

In virology, the term may also be used when referring to mRNA synthesis from an RNA molecule (i.e., RNA replication). For instance, the genome of a negative-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA -) virus may be template for a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA +). This is because the positive-sense strand contains the information needed to translate the viral proteins for viral replication afterwards. This process is catalyzed by a viral RNA replicase.