Genetic Transcription - Creating mRNA

This section provides a quick introduction of the Genetic Transcription process, which is the process of copying genetic information of a gene from DNA to a special RNA molecule called mRNA (Messenger RNA).

What Is Genetic Transcription? - Genetic Transcription is the process of copying genetic information of a gene from DNA to a special RNA molecule called mRNA (Messenger RNA). Transcription is the first step in the expression process from gene to protein.

The genetic transcription process can be divided into 3 phases, initiation, elongation and termination.

1. Initiation Phase - During the initiation phase, a special enzyme called RNA polymerase recognizes a specific site on the DNA, upstream from the gene that will be transcribed, called a promoter site and then unwinds the DNA locally.

2. Elongation Phase - During the Elongation phase, the RNA polymerase uses the antisense (-) strand of gene as the template and synthesizes a complementary RNA molecule called mRNA (Messenger RNA).

3. Termination Phase - When the RNA polymerase reaches the STOP codon of the gene, it will stop transcription, release the newly created mRNA and dissociate itself from the gene.

The picture (source: microbenotes.com) below illustrates the Genetic Transcription process and its 3 phases:

Gene Expression - Transcription Phases
Gene Expression - Transcription Phases

Since the mRNA is complementary to the antisense strand of the gene, so it is identical to the sense strand of the gene. In other words, the mRNA has the same instruction codons as the gene, except that Nucleotide U (Uridine) is used in mRNA instead of T (Thymidine).

Once the draft mRNA is created, it will go through some minor changes of splicing, capping and tailing to become the final mRNA.

The final mRNA will then escape from the cell nucleus to serve as a genetic template to build new proteins during the translation process.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of Molecules

 Molecule Names and Identifications

 Molecule Mass and Weight

 Protein and Amino Acid

 Nucleobase, Nucleoside, Nucleotide, DNA and RNA

Gene and Chromosome

 What Is Gene

 What Is Human Genome

 Gene Address on Chromosome

 DNA Coding and Codons

 Gene Expression - ­Building Proteins

Genetic Transcription - Creating mRNA

 Genetic Translation - Creating Protein

 DNA Gene Sequence - Exons and Introns

 Chromosome Replication (or DNA Replication)

 Protein Kinase (PK)

 DNA Sequencing

 Gene Mutation

 SDF (Structure Data File)

 PyMol Installation

 PyMol GUI and CLI

 PyMol Selections

 PyMol Editing Functions

 PyMol Measurement Functions

 PyMol Movie Functions

 PyMol Python Integration

 PyMol Object Functions

 ChEMBL Database - European Molecular Biology Laboratory

 PubChem Database - National Library of Medicine

 PDB (Protein Data Bank)

 INSDC (International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration)

 HGNC (HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee)

 Relocated Tutorials

 Resources and Tools

 Molecule Related Terminologies

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB