The process by which the nucleotide sequence in a DNA template is used to synthesize a complementary RNA is known as 'transcription', while the process by which this messenger RNA (mRNA) template is converted into an amino acidic chain in a protein is known as 'translation'. During transcription, the DNA template is read by an enzyme named RNA polymerase that synthesizes a complementary single-stranded RNA sequence called primary transcript (precursor mRNA), which is subsequently processed to yield a mature mRNA. On the other hand, during translation, this resulting mature mRNA is read by codons composed of triplets of bases (3bp). These triplets (codons) are read by using the genetic code which defines how the mRNA sequence will be specifically translated into 20 types of amino acids (with exception of stop codons TAA, TAG, and TGA) in order to form the polypeptide chain.
