Protein Synthesis

Proteins act as structural components, enzymes and hormones, and cells must continually synthesise new ones. This overall process of protein synthesis has two stages: transcription, the copying of genetic information from a template strand of DNA into a single-stranded RNA transcript (with adenine pairing with uracil instead of thymine), and translation, the decoding of that RNA message into a polypeptide chain.

Central Dogma : A double-stranded DNA molecule gives rise to mRNA, which acts as the messenger that programmes the synthesis of a polypeptide chain (protein). This unidirectional flow of information from DNA to RNA to protein is the central dogma of molecular biology, postulated by F.H.C. Crick in 1958:

DNA → (Transcription) → mRNA → (Translation) → Polypeptide …