Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

Ribonucleic acid (RNA), like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), is composed of nucleic acids that are found in the nucleus of plants and animals. Nucleic acids consist of high–molecular–weight macromolecules, which are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller single unit molecules called nucleotides, all bound together. These molecules are the storehouse and delivery system of genetic traits and represent an organism's instruction manual for its protein–comprised manufacturing system. RNA, unlike DNA, is also found in other parts of the cell other than the nucleus. In fact, the majority of the RNA is present in the cytoplasm in various forms. Nuclear RNA is comprised of single stranded sequences (DNA is double stranded) and has a lower molecular weight than DNA.

Each nucleotide molecule consists of a sugar group, a phosphate group, and an amino (nitrogen containing) group. The main difference between RNA and DNA is that in RNA the sugar is ribose (a five carbon sugar), while in DNA the sugar is deoxyribose. The prefix deoxy means that one oxygen atom is missing from the ribose. RNA is built from the same nucleotides as DNA just as proteins are built up from amino acids. There are only four bases that makeup RNA: adenine, cytosine, guanine, and uracil(A, C, G, and U, respectively). DNA contains thymine (T) instead of U. Structurally, the backbone consists of alternating sugar and phosphate parts, while the amino groups stick out like branches from the backbone. This coiled backbone in RNA if stretched out, would resemble a stretched out slinky.