students are modeling mrna during the process of protein synthesis. which answer choice correctly describes the model of the mrna strand being transcribed?
Which answer choice correctly describes the model of the mRNA strand being transcribed?
Answer: The correct model for the mRNA strand being transcribed is that it is complementary to the DNA template strand, but with one key difference: instead of thymine (T), uracil (U) is paired with adenine (A).
During the process of protein synthesis, the DNA molecule serves as the template for the synthesis of mRNA. The enzyme RNA polymerase binds to the DNA at the start site and begins to unwind the double helix. As it moves along the DNA strand, it adds complementary RNA nucleotides to form the growing mRNA strand.
In this process, the rules of base pairing still apply. Adenine (A) always pairs with uracil (U) in the mRNA, instead of pairing with thymine (T) as it does in DNA. Cytosine (C) still pairs with guanine (G) as usual.
The resulting mRNA molecule is an exact copy of the coding strand of DNA, except that the T bases are replaced with U. This mRNA molecule will then go on to be translated by ribosomes to produce the corresponding protein.
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