Transcriptional Termination

Transcriptional termination is a process by which messenger RNA (mRNA) is generated from DNA. It occurs when a specific stop signal, known as a "terminator," is encountered in the DNA sequence. The recognition of the terminator sequence results in the separation of the two DNA strands and the production of mRNA, which is then ready for protein synthesis. Transcriptional termination is an important step in gene expression, since it regulates the amount of mRNA produced from a given gene, and thus controls how much protein is produced. It can also help to prevent the expression of harmful proteins and regulate the timing of protein production. Improper transcriptional termination can lead to genetic diseases such as cancer.