Site MapHelpFeedbackHow Translation Works
How Translation Works
(See related pages)

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.





1Translation is the synthesis of
A)mRNA from DNA.
B)mRNA from proteins.
C)proteins from DNA
D)proteins from mRNA
E)proteins from tRNA


2Which 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


3Translation 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


4The first amino acid enters through the A site.
A)True
B)False


5The codon of tRNA is complementary to the anticodon of mRNA.
A)True
B)False





To learn more about the book this website supports, please visit its Information Center.
Copyright (c)2012 McGraw-Hill Education .
Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice | Report Piracy


Molecular BiologyOnline Learning Center

Home > Chapter 18 > How Translation Works