26 Facts About RNA

Cellular organisms use messenger RNA to convey genetic information that directs synthesis of specific proteins.

Chemical structure of RNA is very similar to that of DNA, but differs in three primary ways:.

Each nucleotide in RNA contains a ribose sugar, with carbons numbered 1' through 5'.

Since RNA is charged, metal ions such as Mg are needed to stabilise many secondary and tertiary structures.

Synthesis of RNA is usually catalyzed by an enzyme—RNA polymerase—using DNA as a template, a process known as transcription.

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Messenger RNA is the RNA that carries information from DNA to the ribosome, the sites of protein synthesis in the cell.

The coding sequence of the mRNA determines the amino acid sequence in the protein that is produced.

Messenger RNA carries information about a protein sequence to the ribosomes, the protein synthesis factories in the cell.

In eukaryotic cells, once precursor mRNA has been transcribed from DNA, it is processed to mature mRNA.

The mRNA is then exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it is bound to ribosomes and translated into its corresponding protein form with the help of tRNA.

In prokaryotic cells, which do not have nucleus and cytoplasm compartments, mRNA can bind to ribosomes while it is being transcribed from DNA.

Transfer RNA is a small RNA chain of about 80 nucleotides that transfers a specific amino acid to a growing polypeptide chain at the ribosomal site of protein synthesis during translation.

The rRNA is the component of the ribosome that hosts translation.

Three of the rRNA molecules are synthesized in the nucleolus, and one is synthesized elsewhere.

At first, regulatory RNA was thought to be a eukaryotic phenomenon, a part of the explanation for why so much more transcription in higher organisms was seen than had been predicted.

RNA viruses have genomes composed of RNA that encodes a number of proteins.

Viroids are another group of pathogens, but they consist only of RNA, do not encode any protein and are replicated by a host plant cell's polymerase.

Double-stranded RNA is RNA with two complementary strands, similar to the DNA found in all cells, but with the replacement of thymine by uracil and the adding of one oxygen atom.

In Eukaryotes, Double-stranded RNA plays a role in the activation of the innate immune system against viral infections.

Research on RNA has led to many important biological discoveries and numerous Nobel Prizes.

Sequence of the 77 nucleotides of a yeast tRNA was found by Robert W Holley in 1965, winning Holley the 1968 Nobel Prize in Medicine .

In 1977, introns and RNA splicing were discovered in both mammalian viruses and in cellular genes, resulting in a 1993 Nobel to Philip Sharp and Richard Roberts.

Catalytic RNA molecules were discovered in the early 1980s, leading to a 1989 Nobel award to Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman.

Studies on RNA interference gleaned a Nobel Prize for Andrew Fire and Craig Mello in 2006, and another Nobel was awarded for studies on the transcription of RNA to Roger Kornberg in the same year.

In May 2022, scientists reported that RNA was found to be formed spontaneously on prebiotic basalt lava glass which is presumed to have been abundantly available on the early Earth.

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In March 2015, complex DNA and RNA nucleotides, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, were reportedly formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starter chemicals, such as pyrimidine, an organic compound commonly found in meteorites.