RNA
hideRibonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate. RNA is very similar to DNA, but differs in a few important structural details: in the cell, RNA is usually single-stranded, while DNA is usually double-stranded; RNA nucleotides contain ribose while DNA contains deoxyribose (a type of ribose that lacks one oxygen atom); and RNA has the base uracil rather than thymine that is present in DNA.
RNA is transcribed from DNA by enzymes called RNA polymerases and is generally further processed by other enzymes. RNA is central to the synthesis of proteins. Here, a type of RNA called messenger RNA carries information from DNA to structures called ribosomes. These ribosomes are made from proteins and ribosomal RNAs, which come together to form a molecular machine that can read messenger RNAs and translate the information they carry into proteins. There are many RNAs with other roles – in particular regulating which genes are expressed, but also as the genomes of most viruses.
For more information about RNA, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with rna
Atomic-level Snapshot Catches Protein Motor in Action (w/ Video)
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using a state-of-the-art protein ...
Just like old times: Generating RNA molecules in water
Nov 20, 2009 |
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A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry, resear ...
PLoS Genetics 2009 maize genome collection
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Maize is an important crop in many countries of the world. It is widely used for human consumption, animal feed, and industrial materials. It also is considered an exemplar plant species for studying domestication, molecular ...
'Cross-talk' mechanism contributes to colorectal cancer
Nov 13, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health have identified a molecular mechanism that allows two powerful signaling pathways to interact and begin a process leading to colorectal ...
Hoping for a fluorescent basket case: How HIV is assembled and released from infected cells
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Although recent advances have raised hopes that a protective vaccine can be developed, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) remains a major public health problem. Much has been learned about HIV-1, the virus that causes ...
Explained: RNA interference
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Every high school biology student learns the basics of how genes are expressed: DNA, the cell’s master information keeper, is copied into messenger RNA, which carries protein-building instructions to the ribosome, ...
Possible help in fight against muscle-wasting disease (w/ Video)
Nov 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of ...
Researchers identify drug candidate for treating spinal muscular atrophy
Nov 04, 2009 |
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A chemical cousin of the common antibiotic tetracycline might be useful in treating spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a currently incurable disease that is the leading genetic cause of death in infants. This is the finding of ...
Two-In-One Punch Knocks Out Drug Resistant Cancer Cells
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Cancer cells, like bacteria, can develop resistance to drug therapy, leading to relapse of disease. One approach showing promise in overcoming multidrug resistance in tumors is to combine two different anticancer ...
Scientists Plot Genetic Ploy Against Grain Pest
Nov 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Aided by a genomic map of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and university scientists are plotting a kind of genetic sabotage on the pest’s basic ...
Two-pronged protein attack could be source of SARS virulence
Oct 29, 2009 |
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Ever since the previously unknown SARS virus emerged from southern China in 2003, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston virologists have focused on finding the source of the pathogen's virulence — its ability to ...
Biologists reveal structure of cell nucleus 'gatekeeper'
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists led by associate professor Thomas Schwartz (MIT) have worked out a rudimentary architectural plan for the nuclear pore complex (NPC), the gatekeeper of the cell's nucleus.
Scientists first to see RNA network in live bacterial cells
Oct 22, 2009 |
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Scientists who study RNA have faced a formidable roadblock: trying to examine RNA's movements in a living cell when they can't see the RNA. Now, a new technology has given scientists the first look ever at RNA in a live ...
Widely used virus assay shown unreliable when compared to other methods
Oct 21, 2009 |
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In the course of doing research on the mosquito-borne pathogens chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and o' nyong-nyong virus (ONNV), Virginia Tech researchers have discovered an inconvenient truth about an assay, strand-specific quantitative ...
New research shows how mobile DNA survives -- and thrives -- in plants, animals
Oct 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Bits of movable DNA called transposable elements or TEs fill up the genomes of plants and animals, but it has remained unclear how a genome can survive a rapid burst of hundreds, even thousands of new TE ...
