From master blueprint to finished part
A factory keeps its master blueprints locked in the office (DNA), sends photocopies to the floor (RNA), and workers build the actual part from the copy (protein). The central dogma is that one-way flow of instructions, DNA to RNA to protein.
DNA → RNA → protein
The central dogma of molecular biology describes how genetic information flows. Transcription copies a gene from DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA). Translation then reads the mRNA at the ribosome to build a protein, three bases (a codon) at a time.
mRNA is the messenger
DNA stays safe in the nucleus; mRNA carries a transient copy of the gene out to the ribosome where protein is made.
Lab · Trace the flow
- Start with a gene in DNA.
- Name the step that copies it into mRNA.
- Name the step that builds the protein.
What you should see: Transcription makes mRNA from DNA; translation builds protein from mRNA at the ribosome.