Polypeptide

A polypeptide is a chain of amino acids synthesized by a ribosome using an mRNA template. It later folds into a protein.

The process of protein synthesis

See also: Protein synthesis

After the mRNA has been transcribed from the DNA in a cell's nucleus, it is processed and modified (in eucaryotic cells this entails removing intron, capping the 5'-end and adding a poly-A tail to the 3'-end), and then transported out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm. There, it is met by the large and small subunits of a ribosome and translation begins, producing a string of amino acids whose order is coded by the mRNA template.