They are matched to the DNA - letter by letter - to copy the gene.Īt this point the RNA needs to be edited before it can be translated into a protein. The building blocks to make the RNA enter through an intake hole. The yellow chain snaking out of the top is a close chemical cousin of DNA called RNA. The blue molecule is unzipping the double helix and copying one of the two strands. Transcription of DNA begins with a bundle of factors assembling at the start of a gene, to read off the information that will be needed to make a protein. The DNA double helix contains two linear sequences of the letters A C G and T, which carry coded instructions.
