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RNA Transcription
DNA contains the information to create the proteins and RNA needed for life. Transcription, which occurs in the cell nucleus, is the process of creating a new RNA molecule from DNA. The process begins when an enzyme, RNA polymerase, binds to a DNA molecule at the starting point of a gene, and begins "unzipping" the DNA. The RNA polymerase moves along the DNA one base at a time. As it moves, the RNA polymerase continues to unzip the DNA and make a growing RNA copy of the DNA.
Messenger RNA (mRNA), which contains the information needed to make a protein, is generated from this process. The DNA zips back up, undamaged, once the RNA polymerase has moved on.
When the RNA polymerase reaches the end of the gene it is transcribing, it detaches from the DNA and releases the RNA strand. The RNA strand now has the information to make proteins that are necessary for life.