The production of a protein based on an mRNA sequence is called translation. Translation takes place at cellular structures called ribosomes. Just as many mRNA transcripts can simultaneously be generated from one gene, many ribosomes can simultaneously translate the same mRNA strand into a protein.
The genetic code dictates that three nucleotides encode one amino acid; this three-nucleotide group is called a codon. Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules enable the ribosome to read the mRNA one codon at a time. At one end, tRNAs have a set of three bases that recognize a particular codo; on the other end, they are linked to the corresponding amino acid. As ribosomes move along the mRNA, they match tRNAs to its sequence, and link the amino acids they carry to the growing protein chain.