Transcription is the process of synthesizing RNA from DNA. In prokaryotes, a single RNA polymerase enzyme synthesizes all RNA and transcription occurs in three stages - initiation, elongation, and termination. Initiation involves the RNA polymerase binding to the promoter region on DNA, elongation synthesizes RNA from 5' to 3' using ribonucleotide triphosphates, and termination ends transcription. Eukaryotic transcription is more complex, utilizing three RNA polymerases and involving promoter sites, transcription factors, enhancers, and processing of heterogeneous nuclear RNA into messenger RNA.