The step that comes second in the central dogma process, after transcription, is translation.
During transcription, a specific segment of DNA is copied into mRNA in the cell nucleus. This mRNA carries the genetic information from the DNA in the form of nucleotide sequences.
In translation, which occurs in the cell's cytoplasm at the ribosomes, the mRNA code is read and used to assemble a polypeptide chain by linking together amino acids in the correct sequence. Each set of three nucleotides on the mRNA, called a codon, corresponds to a specific amino acid.
Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules bring the corresponding amino acids to the ribosome based on the codons on the mRNA. The ribosome reads the mRNA codons and facilitates the bonding of amino acids carried by tRNA molecules to form a polypeptide chain.
This process continues until a stop codon is reached on the mRNA, signaling the completion of the polypeptide chain. The newly formed polypeptide then folds into a functional protein according to its specific sequence of amino acids.
