According to the central dogma of molecular biology, the synthesis of mRNA from DNA is called:

The central dogma of molecular biology, proposed by Francis Crick in 1958, describes the flow of genetic information in a cell. It states that information flows from DNA to RNA to protein:

DNA → (transcription) → mRNA → (translation) → Protein

The three main processes are:

Replication: DNA makes an exact copy of itself before a cell divides, so that each daughter cell gets the same genetic information. It is semi-conservative, meaning each new DNA molecule has one old strand and one new strand, as shown by Meselson and Stahl in 1958. Enzymes such as helicase and DNA polymerase are involved.

Transcription: the information in a gene of DNA is copied into a molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA). This takes place in the nucleus in eukaryotes. The enzyme RNA polymerase reads one strand of DNA (the template strand) and builds a complementary RNA strand, using uracil (U) instead of thymine (T). In eukaryotes, the initial RNA is processed by removing non-coding parts called introns and joining the coding parts called exons (splicing).

Translation: the mRNA moves to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm, where its code is read in sets of three bases, called codons, and used to join amino acids in the correct order to make a protein. Transfer RNA (tRNA) brings the amino acids, and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is part of the ribosome. AUG is the start codon, and UAA, UAG and UGA are stop codons.

An exception to the central dogma is reverse transcription, found in retroviruses such as HIV. The enzyme reverse transcriptase, discovered by Howard Temin and David Baltimore in 1970, makes DNA from an RNA template.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Translation is the making of protein from mRNA at the ribosome.
• ✗Replication is the copying of DNA into DNA.
• ✗Reverse transcription is the making of DNA from RNA, as in HIV.