RNA splicing

Simple illustration of exons and introns in pre-mRNA and the formation of mature mRNA by splicing. The UTRs are non-coding parts of exons at the ends of the mRNA.

RNA splicing is a stage in gene transcription. Messenger RNA (mRNA), which transfers the code from DNA to proteins, is built in two stages.

In the first stage, each gene is translated into a pre-mRNA. Then the exons in pre-mRNAs are joined by splicing, which is done in the spliceosomes.^[1]

This is needed because the gene is split into code sections called exons and non-coding sections called introns. The exons are brought together by splicing.

So, in molecular biology, splicing is a process where introns are removed and exons are joined. This makes the final mRNA. This messenger RNA is then used to produce a correct protein by translation.

↑ Some introns are self-splicing.

[1] Some introns are self-splicing.

[1]