What process is primarily responsible for producing mRNA from a DNA template?

The process responsible for producing mRNA from a DNA template is transcription. During transcription, a specific segment of DNA is used as a template to synthesize messenger RNA (mRNA). This occurs in the cell nucleus, where the enzyme RNA polymerase binds to the DNA and unwinds it to expose the gene that will be transcribed. The enzyme then assembles the RNA nucleotides into a strand of mRNA that is complementary to the DNA template strand.

Transcription is crucial because it allows the genetic information stored in DNA to be expressed in a form that can be translated into proteins, which carry out essential functions in the cell. This process is distinct from translation, which is about synthesizing proteins from mRNA, and replication, which involves copying the entire DNA for cell division. Cytokinesis is the final physical division of the cytoplasm of a parental cell into two daughter cells, which is unrelated to gene expression.