Question

since dna cannot leave the nucleus and proteins are manufactured in the cytoplasm, the pattern has to be carried from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. messenger rna (m - rna) is the molecule that carries the pattern and the process that produces m - rna is called transcription. a large enzyme, rna polymerase, is responsible for the transcription of m - rna. it works in a similar fashion as dna polymerase, except rna polymerase matches uracil (not thymine) with adenine. the result is m - rna.
procedure:
below is a single strand of dna. transcribe the strand by filling in the blanks with the complementary m - rna nucleotides (remember that t will be replaced with u as you are creating rna).
dna strand: c g t a a t g c g t c a
m - rna:
a group of three m - rna nucleotides is called a codon. each codon calls for one specific amino acid.
how many codons are in the m - rna strand above?
go back to the large dna molecule on the front table.
how many m - rna codons would be produced by this dna strand if it were transcribed?

Explanation:

Step1: Recall the definition of a codon

A codon is a group of three - mRNA nucleotides.

Step2: Count the number of nucleotides in the given mRNA strand

The given mRNA strand is "G C A U U A C G C A U U". There are 12 nucleotides.

Step3: Calculate the number of codons

Divide the total number of nucleotides by 3. $\frac{12}{3}=4$.

Answer:

4