What is transcription in biology?

In biology, transcription refers to the process in which the DNA sequence of a gene is copied or transcribed to create a new RNA molecule. Transcription is the first step of gene expression, in which information is passed on from one biological structure to another. This step is a prerequisite for translation, which is the second step of gene expression. The primary transcription enzyme is RNA polymerase.

Transcription begins when the two strands of the DNA helix start to unwind and separate from each other. After they separate into two individual, independent strands, the RNA polymerase travels along the length of one of the DNA strands and binds with complementary RNA nucleotides until it forms a complete strand of mRNA or messenger RNA. The mRNA is a single-stranded RNA molecule that corresponds to one of the DNA strands of a gene. It acts as a template or cellular blueprint that is used to construct a particular type of protein.