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What are the differences between transcription and translation?
Posted October 13, 2020
Answer
Genes provide the information necessary for building proteins. However, they are unable to create proteins directly. Protein production is carried out by transcription and translation, two processes that work in sequence and complement each other to synthesize proteins.
| Basis for comparison | Transcription | Translation |
| Definition | Refers to the process of producing a strand of RNA from a strand of DNA | Refers to the process in which the information carried in mRNA molecules is used to produce proteins |
| Gene expression | First step of gene expression and is a prerequisite for the next step | Second and final step of gene expression |
| Precursor | Precursor is the non-coding or antisense DNA strand | Precursor is the mRNA produced during the transcription stage |
| Raw materials used | Raw materials include four base pairs of RNA – guanine, cytosine, adenine, and uracil | Raw materials include twenty amino acids |
| Initiation requirement | Initiated by specific DNA sequences known as promoter sequences | Initiated by the binding of mRNA |
| Site of occurrence | Takes place in the nucleus in eukaryotes | Takes place in the ribosomes on the endoplasmic reticulum in eukaryotes |
| Primary enzyme | RNA polymerase | aminoacetyl tRNA synthetase |
| Products created | mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, and non-coding RNA | synthesis of proteins |
Additional resources
Ribosomes, Transcription, and Translation
Cell Navigator™ Live Cell RNA Imaging Kit *Green Fluorescence*