Which process occurs in the cytoplasm?

• A. Transcription
• B. Replication
• C. Splicing
• D. Translation

Answer: (D)

Translation is the process that happens in the cytoplasm. After a gene is transcribed in the nucleus into mRNA, this mRNA travels to the cytoplasm where ribosomes read its codons and assemble amino acids into a polypeptide. This is the step where the genetic message is turned into a protein, which takes place at the ribosomes in the cytoplasm.

Transcription occurs in the nucleus, where DNA is copied into RNA. Splicing also happens in the nucleus, editing the initial RNA transcript by removing introns before the mRNA is exported. Replication, the copying of the DNA, primarily happens in the nucleus for eukaryotic cells (with bacteria being a notable exception where it occurs in the cytoplasm, though that scenario isn’t the usual focus in this context). So the cytoplasmic process among these options is translation.