During which process do introns leave the pre-mRNA?

Introns are non-coding segments of pre-mRNA that need to be removed before the RNA can be translated into protein. The process during which introns are excised from pre-mRNA is known as splicing. This step occurs after transcription, when the initial RNA transcript (pre-mRNA) is modified to form mature mRNA.

During splicing, specific sequences at the boundaries of the introns are recognized by the splicing machinery, which removes these introns and joins the remaining exons together. This generates a continuous sequence of coding regions that can be translated into a protein.

The other processes listed, such as translation and replication, do not involve the removal of introns from pre-mRNA. Translation is the process by which mRNA is used to synthesize proteins, and replication refers to the copying of DNA, neither of which affect the processing of pre-mRNA.