Biology (Mader), 10th Edition

Chapter 12: Molecular Biology of the Gene

How Translation Works

What is Translated during Translation? The two major steps in creating a protein are transcription and translation. Transcription creates an mRNA molecule, using a DNA sequence as a template. DNA and mRNA are similar, although certainly not identical, molecules. An mRNA sequence is essentially a copy of a DNA sequence with the thymines replaced by uracil. The production of mRNA is known as transcription which means copying. Creating a protein from an mRNA sequence is known as translation because the structure of a protein is very different from that of mRNA. Proteins are sequences of amino acids, not bases. The information in the mRNA is converted to a new form – it is translated. A sequence of bases is translated into a sequence of amino acids.

View the animation below, then complete the quiz to test your knowledge of the concept.



1.

Translation is the synthesis of
A)mRNA from DNA.
B)mRNA from proteins.
C)proteins from DNA
D)proteins from mRNA
E)proteins from tRNA
2.

Which of the following occurs as the ribosome shifts down the mRNA by a distance of three nucleotides?
A)the tRNA that was in the A site moves into the E site
B)the tRNA that was in the P site moves into the A site
C)the tRNA that was in the E site moves into the P site
D)the tRNA that was in the E site moves into the A site
E)the tRNA that was in the P site moves into the E site
3.

Translation is terminated when a stop codon is presented at the ________ site.
A)A
B)P
C)E
D)either A or B
E)either A or C
4.

The first amino acid enters through the A site.
A)True
B)False
5.

The codon of tRNA is complementary to the anticodon of mRNA.
A)True
B)False
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