RNA
Molecular Biology · Biochemistry · Genetics
Say it: ar-en-AY
Short for ribonucleic acid
RNA is a usually single-stranded nucleic acid, built with the sugar ribose and the base uracil, that carries and uses genetic information to make proteins.
Also: ribonucleic acid
Definition
What is RNA?
RNA, short for ribonucleic acid, is a nucleic acid found in all living cells. Like DNA, it is a chain of nucleotides, but it differs in three main ways: its sugar is ribose rather than deoxyribose, it uses the base uracil (U) in place of thymine, and it is usually single-stranded. Being single-stranded lets an RNA molecule fold back on itself, pairing bases within the same chain, so it can take on complex three-dimensional shapes.
RNA does most of the work of turning genetic information into proteins. Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries a copy of a gene from the DNA to the ribosomes, transfer RNA (tRNA) brings the matching amino acids, and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) forms the core of the ribosome and itself catalyzes the joining of amino acids. Other small RNAs, such as microRNAs, regulate gene expression by blocking or destroying particular mRNAs.
Some viruses, including influenza viruses and retroviruses such as HIV, use RNA rather than DNA as their genetic material. Because RNA can both store information and act as a catalyst, many scientists think early life relied on RNA before DNA and proteins took over.
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Related
Terms that go with it
- DNADNA is the double-stranded molecule that carries the genetic instructions of nearly all living things, written in a code of four bases: A, T, C and G.
- Messenger RNAMessenger RNA is the RNA copy of a gene that carries protein-building instructions from DNA to the ribosomes, where it is read in three-base codons.
- Transfer RNATransfer RNA is a short adaptor RNA that brings a specific amino acid to the ribosome and pairs with the matching mRNA codon through its anticodon.
- RibosomeA ribosome is a molecular machine of RNA and protein that reads messenger RNA and joins amino acids in the order it specifies to build a protein.
- TranscriptionTranscription is the process in which a cell copies the DNA sequence of a gene into a matching strand of RNA.
- NucleotideA nucleotide is a single unit of DNA or RNA, made of a nitrogen-containing base, a five-carbon sugar and one or more phosphate groups.
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