The DNA strand that mRNA is built from is referred to as the template strand because it serves as a template for transcription. It is also known as the antisense strand.
Only one strand is actively used as a template in the transcription process, this is known as the sense strand, or template strand. The complementary DNA strand, the one that is not used, is called the nonsense or antisense strand.
The bottom strand is the template strand.
During transcription the top strand is the template strand.
Summary. Promoters are about 100-1000 base pairs long and are adjacent and typically upstream (5') of the sense or coding strand of the transcribed gene. The antisense strand is referred to as the template strand or non-coding strand as this is the strand that is transcribed by the RNA polymerase.
Translation is the process by which an mRNA molecule is used as a template to build a protein from a specific sequence of amino acids encoded by the mRNA. This takes place within a complex in the cytoplasm called a ribosome.
It seems reasonable that only one strand is used, because transcription of RNA from both strands would produce two complementary RNA strands from the same stretch of DNA, and these strands presumably would produce two different kinds of protein (with different amino acid sequences).
The mRNA strand is an exact copy of the DNA template strand; however, uracil instead of adenine is paired with thymine. The mRNA strand is an exact copy of the DNA template strand; however, uracil instead of thymine is paired with adenine.
When referring to DNA transcription, the coding strand (or informational strand) is the DNA strand whose base sequence is identical to the base sequence of the RNA transcript produced (although with thymine replaced by uracil). It is this strand which contains codons, while the non-coding strand contains anticodons.
RNA polymerase synthesizes an RNA transcript complementary to the DNA template strand in the 5' to 3' direction. It moves forward along the template strand in the 3' to 5' direction, opening the DNA double helix as it goes.
Either DNA strand can be a templateThe promoter is the sequence of DNA that encodes the information about where to begin transcription for each gene. Depending on the promoter, either strand of DNA can be used as the template strand. This strand is also called the non-coding strand or the antisense strand.
5' - 3' direction refers to the orientation of nucleotides of a single strand of DNA or RNA. DNA is always read in the 5' to 3' direction, and hence you would start reading from the free phosphate and finish at the free hydroxyl group.
DNA polymerase adds nucleotides to the deoxyribose (3') ended strand in a 5' to 3' direction. Nucleotides cannot be added to the phosphate (5') end because DNA polymerase can only add DNA nucleotides in a 5' to 3' direction.
