Final answer:
The process of transcription in prokaryotes begins when RNA polymerase binds to the promoter region, causing the DNA to unwind and form a transcription bubble. Initiation, elongation, and termination are the subsequent stages of mRNA synthesis, culminating in the formation of a complementary RNA strand that is later used for protein synthesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of transcription in prokaryotes is a multistep mechanism whereby the information coded in DNA is transferred to RNA. Transcription begins with RNA polymerase, which binds to the promoter region on the DNA. This leads to the unwinding of the DNA strands, forming a transcription bubble. Transcription progresses from this stage through the stages of initiation, elongation, and termination.
During initiation, RNA polymerase recognizes the promoter region and the DNA begins to unwind and separate the two strands of the DNA double helix. The promoter, a DNA sequence upstream of the gene, is critical for transcription initiation. After transcription initiates, the elongation stage involves RNA polymerase synthesizing the RNA strand, adding nucleotides complementary to the template strand of DNA. The mRNA transcript is elongated in the 5' to 3' direction. Finally, termination occurs when RNA polymerase reaches a terminator sequence and the mRNA synthesis is completed, releasing the newly formed mRNA strand.
The transcription process in prokaryotes is a fundamental part of gene expression, allowing cells to produce the necessary proteins for their various functions and contributing to the central dogma of molecular biology, which describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein.