Protein Synthesis Graphic Organizer

How it works

Protein synthesis has two steps, and they are easy to mix up. This protein synthesis graphic organizer asks the same three questions of each, so the nucleus and the ribosome, the DNA and the mRNA, end up one above the other.

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What joins the two boxes

The arrow between the boxes is the mRNA. In a cell with a nucleus it is spliced and capped before it leaves through a nuclear pore, which is why the five-step sheet has a box for RNA processing and one for export. Bacteria have no nucleus, so both steps happen in the cytoplasm.

Decoding a gene

Each DNA base pairs with one RNA base: A with U, T with A, C with G, G with C. Look up the mRNA codon, never the DNA triplet, on the codon chart. The last triplet of the practice gene gives a stop codon, which no tRNA matches.

RNA has uracil where DNA has thymine, so a strand of mRNA never contains a T.
AUG is both the start codon and the codon for methionine.

Questions and answers

What are the two steps of protein synthesis?

Transcription and translation. In transcription, RNA polymerase copies a gene's DNA into messenger RNA. In translation, a ribosome reads the mRNA and joins amino acids into a chain, which then folds into a protein.

What is the difference between transcription and translation?

Transcription reads DNA and makes mRNA; in a cell with a nucleus it happens in the nucleus. Translation reads mRNA and makes a chain of amino acids; it happens at a ribosome in the cytoplasm.

What is a codon?

Three bases in a row on DNA or mRNA. Each codon names one amino acid or tells the ribosome to stop. There are 64 codons: 61 code for amino acids and 3 are stop codons.

What does tRNA do in protein synthesis?

Transfer RNA carries amino acids to the ribosome. Each tRNA has an anticodon of three bases that pairs with one mRNA codon, so the amino acids are joined in the order the mRNA gives.

All 13 organizers

The two steps 6

Chart: transcription beside translation A column for each step and four rows, so the answers line up: where it happens, what is read, what is made and what does the work.
Draw a cell and mark the two steps A space at the top to draw a cell with its nucleus and a ribosome, and a box for each place to name the step that happens there.
Five steps from gene to protein For a cell with a nucleus: transcription, RNA processing, export from the nucleus, translation and folding, in five numbered boxes joined by arrows.
Protein synthesis graphic organizer: transcription, then translation Two numbered boxes joined by an arrow. Each asks where in the cell the step happens, what is read and what is made, and the box at the foot takes the whole path in one sentence.
Three kinds of RNA: mRNA, tRNA, rRNA A column for each kind of RNA, with boxes for its full name, its job and a sketch.
Translation: initiation, elongation, termination Initiation, elongation and termination in numbered boxes joined by arrows, each asking what the ribosome does.

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Reading the code 4

Blank decoding chart The same four columns with eight empty rows, for a DNA sequence of your own.
Codon chart: the standard genetic code All 64 mRNA codons with the amino acid each one codes for. Find the first two bases of the codon down the side, then the third base across the top.
Decode a short gene: DNA to mRNA to amino acids Six DNA triplets down the side, from TAC to ATT, that make one short gene. Write the mRNA codon and the tRNA anticodon for each, then find the amino acid on the codon chart.
Transcription or translation? Eight statements Eight statements down the side, each with a box to tick for the step it describes. The line under the chart says they are about a cell with a nucleus.

Samples and answer keys 3

Answer key: the short gene decoded The decoding chart worked out, from the start codon AUG to the stop codon UAA. No tRNA matches a stop codon.
Answer key: transcription or translation The eight statements with the right box marked: four for each step.
Sample protein synthesis organizer, filled in The opening sheet written in for a cell with a nucleus.

How this list was compiled: Our own layouts and wording; no publisher's organizer is copied. The two steps, where each happens, what is read and made, the phases of translation, the codon chart and the samples were checked against the Wikipedia articles Protein biosynthesis, Transcription (biology), Translation (biology), Transfer RNA, Genetic code and DNA and RNA codon tables, and against the entries Transcription, Translation, Codon and Messenger RNA in the Talking Glossary of the National Human Genome Research Institute (genome.gov). All read October 14, 2026. Licence: own work