High School

In transcription, where are new nucleotides always added onto the growing RNA chain?

Group of answer choices:
A. 3’ phosphate
B. 5’ phosphate
C. 3’ OH
D. 5’ OH
E. nitrogenous base

Answer :

The correct answer is c) 3' OH. In transcription, new nucleotides are always added onto the growing RNA chain at the 3' OH end.


Transcription is a crucial process in gene expression that involves creating an RNA copy of a DNA sequence. This process is catalyzed by the enzyme RNA polymerase.

During transcription, the DNA double helix is unwound by RNA polymerase, and new nucleotides are added to form the growing RNA chain. The nucleotides are always added to the 3' OH end of the RNA chain because this is the only site that can accept the new nucleotides and form a phosphodiester bond with the 5' phosphate of the incoming nucleotide.

Consequently, the RNA chain elongates in the 5' to 3' direction, which is opposite to the direction of the DNA template strand.

Therefore, the correct answer is c) 3' OH.

Read more about DNA polymerase.

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