Where does translation occur?

• A. In the nucleus
• B. In the Golgi apparatus
• C. At the ribosome
• D. In the mitochondria

Answer: (C)

Translation is the process of building a protein by decoding an mRNA template, and it happens at ribosomes, the cellular machines that read codons and assemble amino acids with the help of tRNAs. In most cells, this occurs in the cytosol, and in eukaryotic cells it can also occur on the rough endoplasmic reticulum for proteins that are destined for secretion or membranes. The nucleus is where transcription happens, the Golgi apparatus specializes in modifying and sorting proteins after synthesis, and mitochondria have their own ribosomes for translating a small set of mitochondrial proteins. But for the general synthesis of proteins from mRNA, the ribosome is the correct site.