When referring to
DNA transcription, the
coding strand is the
DNA strand which has the
same base sequence as the
RNA transcript produced (although with
thymine replaced by
uracil). It is this strand which contains
codons, while the non-coding strand contains anti-codons. During transcription, RNA Pol II binds the non-coding strand, reads the anti-codons, and transcribes their sequence to synthesize an RNA transcript with complementary bases. By convention, the coding strand is the strand used when displaying a DNA sequence. It is presented in the
5' to 3' direction.