Transcription is the first step in protein synthesis, occurring in the cell nucleus. Translation is the second step, taking place in the cytoplasm at the ribosomes.
A DNA sequence is translated into an RNA molecule that is complementary to it. By incorporating complementary RNA nucleotides, the enzyme RNA polymerase creates a corresponding RNA strand after reading the DNA template strand. The messenger RNA (mRNA), a recently formed RNA molecule, transports genetic information from the DNA to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm.
A polypeptide chain is constructed during translation using the information carried by the messenger RNA to create a protein. Based on the mRNA codons, transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules deliver amino acids to the ribosome.