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RNA

Ribonucleic Acid. A single stranded polynucleotide, RNA is so named because the molecular structure of its constituent nucleotides incorporate a ribose carbohydrate (in contrast to DNA, whose nucleotides incorporate a deoxyribose carbohydrate). There are four nucleotides in RNA, which are differentiated according to which base is bound to the carbohydrate in each - Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) or Uracil (U). The third constituent part of nucleotides - a phosphate group - allows them to bind together into the polynucleotide called RNA.

There are three main types of RNA:

1. mRNA or messenger RNA is the RNA produced by the transcription of DNA leading and lagging strands by DNA polymerase. mRNA is then translated into proteins by ribosomes.


2. rRNA is the variety of RNA that combines with different proteins to form ribosomes - the mRNA to protein translators - themselves.


3. tRNA or transfer RNA are short RNA sequences that act as intermediaries or adapters in ribosomal mRNA to protein translation

Editor(s): Long, B.

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