The process by which proteins are formed from amino acids is known as protein synthesis. This occurs primarily in the ribosomes of cells through two main stages: transcription and translation. During transcription, DNA is copied to produce messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries the genetic code to ribosomes. In translation, the mRNA sequence is read by the ribosome, and transfer RNA (tRNA) brings the appropriate amino acids together to form a polypeptide chain, which then folds into a functional protein.