Which statement about the central dogma steps is accurate?

• A. Protein is transcribed into RNA
• B. RNA is translated into DNA
• C. DNA is replicated into RNA
• D. DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is translated into a protein

Answer: (D)

The main idea is how genetic information flows in most cells: DNA is transcribed into RNA, and RNA is translated into a protein. Transcription uses an RNA polymerase to copy a DNA sequence into a messenger RNA molecule. Translation then uses the RNA sequence, read by ribosomes, to assemble the corresponding sequence of amino acids into a protein. This pathway explains why a statement that DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated into a protein, is accurate.

The other options mix up the directions or the products. Transcribing protein into RNA would imply turning a protein back into RNA, which isn’t how information is normally used. RNA translated into DNA would require reverse transcription, which happens in some viruses but isn’t the standard flow described by the central dogma. DNA replicated into RNA would imply making RNA from DNA during replication, but replication actually copies DNA to DNA for cell division, not to produce RNA.