Transcription

Transcription is the process of producing a written or printed representation of something. In biology, transcription refers to the synthesis of RNA from a DNA template, carried out by RNA polymerase. This process initiates at promoter sequences, proceeds through elongation of a growing RNA strand, and ends at termination signals. In prokaryotes, transcription occurs in the cytoplasm and often proceeds with translation; in eukaryotes it occurs in the nucleus and is followed by post-transcriptional processing, including 5' capping, splicing to remove introns, and 3' polyadenylation. The resulting RNA transcripts—mRNA, rRNA, tRNA—contribute to gene expression and cell function. The collection of all transcripts in a cell is the transcriptome; regulation occurs through transcription factors, enhancers, silencers, and chromatin structure.

Transcription in linguistics and speech science is the representation of spoken language in written form. It can be orthographic transcription, which uses standard spelling, or phonetic transcription, often using the International Phonetic Alphabet to capture precise sounds. Transcriptions vary by language, purpose, and transcription scheme; researchers assess reliability between transcribers and may include annotations for prosody, tone, or disfluencies.

In music, transcription refers to creating a written score for a piece originally conceived for one instrument or ensemble to be performed on another or to a different arrangement. It involves notating pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and sometimes technique; it differs from arrangement, which may alter harmony or form, and from transcription of a performance, which aims to reproduce a specific performance rather than the original score.