Related topics: genes , protein , dna , gene expression
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
Plant gene replacement results in the world's only blue rose
Apr 04, 2005 |
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Australian and Japanese researchers have demonstrated the application of RNAi technology for gene replacement in plants, developing the world's only blue rose.
Scientists discover how the brain encodes memories at a cellular level
Dec 23, 2009 |
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Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development ...
Chemists see first building blocks to life on Earth
May 13, 2009 |
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Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed an experiment that sheds new and fascinating light on how life on Earth might have begun.
First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected
Nov 26, 2009 |
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What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism ...
Model suggests how life's code emerged from primordial soup
Aug 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1953, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. ...
Scientists develop first examples of RNA that replicates itself indefinitely
Jan 09, 2009 |
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Now, a pair of Scripps Research Institute scientists has taken a significant step toward answering that question. The scientists have synthesized for the first time RNA enzymes that can replicate themselves without the help ...
Newly explored bacteria reveal some huge RNA surprises
Dec 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells ...
No such thing as 'junk RNA,' say Pitt researchers
Oct 13, 2009 |
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Tiny strands of RNA previously dismissed as cellular junk are actually very stable molecules that may play significant roles in cellular processes, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine ...
Secrets of a Life-Giving Amino Acid Revealed
Jul 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Selenium is a trace element crucial to life -- too little or too much of it is fatal. In the July 17 issue of the journal Science, researchers at Yale University and University of Illinois at Chi ...
Genome-wide map shows precisely where microRNAs do their work
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 17, 2009 |
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MicroRNAs are the newest kid on the genetic block. By regulating the unzipping of genetic information, these tiny molecules have set the scientific world alight with such wide-ranging applications as onions ...
MIT reels in RNA surprise with microbial ocean catch
May 13, 2009 |
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An ingenious new method of obtaining marine microbe samples while preserving the microbes' natural gene expression has yielded an unexpected boon: the presence of many varieties of small RNAs — snippets of RNA that act as ...
Engineers create intelligent molecules that seek-and-destroy diseased cells
Feb 13, 2009 |
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Current treatments for diseases like cancer typically destroy nasty malignant cells, while also hammering the healthy ones. Using new advances in synthetic biology, researchers are designing molecules intelligent enough to ...
Researchers decode structure of an entire HIV genome
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Aug 05, 2009 |
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The structure of an entire HIV genome has been decoded for the first time by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results have widespread implications for understanding the strategies ...
'Motorized' DNA opens door to autonomous molecular experiments
Apr 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Using the same protein molecule that scientists have used for decades to copy genetic material, researchers have developed a molecular motor for propelling DNA.
Researchers demonstrate that messenger RNA are lost in translation
Aug 23, 2009 |
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Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine assistant professor in the Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Jeff Coller, Ph.D., and his team discovered that messenger RNA (mRNA) predominately degrade on ribosomes, fundamentally ...
