RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) plays a significant role in coding, decoding, and expression of genes as a molecule. It also helps to translate the genetic information into proteins. To maintain a biological system, ribonucleic acid is necessary for life and can be present in all living cells. There are three types of ribonucleotides present which are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. By the way, Cytosine is a pyrimidine but adenine and guanine are purines. Also, Purines have three rings, whereas pyrimidines have two rings. Basically, DNA is formed when guanine pairs with cytosine and adenine pairs with thymine.
In this article, you will learn about the full form of RNA, the structure of RNA, its types and functions.
What is the Full Form of RNA?
In biology, the full form of RNA is Ribonucleic Acid which is a polymeric molecule. Basically, it plays a significant role in important types of activities like coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. Also, it helps to control some of the different events occurring inside the cell as per requirement. The building blocks of RNA are ribose nucleotides, which are nitrogenous bases joined to ribose sugars and joined by phosphodiester linkages to form strands with different lengths in a biological system. Here the Adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil which take the place of thymine in DNA—are the nitrogenous bases found in RNA. Basically, the crystal-structured ribose sugar of RNA consists of five carbons and one oxygen, and the structure of the RNA molecule was described by R.W. Holley in 1965.
Structure of RNA
The structure of RNA is described in brief below:
- In the best structure, RNA molecule consists of phosphoric acid, a pentose sugar, and some cyclic bases that contain nitrogen.
- RNA has β-D-ribose as a part of sugar and the Guanine (G), adenine (A), cytosine (C) and uracil (U) are existing heterocyclic bases. The fourth RNA base is different from the DNA base in biological systems.
- The two fundamental building blocks of RNA are uracil and adenine which combine to form base pairs with the aid of two hydrogen bonds.
- Like the DNA nucleotides, RNA nucleotides are created in this ribonucleic substance, which has a hair structure. Also, the Similar types of phosphate groups, which are frequently involved in the production of nucleotides in DNA, are nucleosides.
Types of RNA
There are four types of RNA which are:
- Messenger RNA (mRNA): To transport the genetic instructions from DNA to the Ribosome, Messenger RNA is useful.
- Transfer RNA (tRNA): Transfer RNA is much useful to transport the amino acids to the Ribosome and decoding of mRNA. It is placed at the endpoints of each amino acid.
- Ribosomal RNA (rRNA): Basically, Ribosomal RNA is the part of Ribosome which is responsible for protein synthesis as per requirement. It consists primarily of cellular RNA and is the most abundant RNA in all forms of cellular life.
- Small nuclear RNA (snRNA): Splicing of mRNA is facilitated by the small nuclear RNA.
Functions of RNA
The following are the functions of RNA:
- RNA is transcribed from DNA, also it is involved in the synthesis of proteins and the control of gene expression.
- Majority of the RNA molecules perform a number of essential tasks, including helping to convert DNA's genetic information into proteins as per requirement.
- Basically, all the live cells and the majority of viruses contain RNA.
- RNA is also in charge of performing some enzymatic tasks as per requirement.
Also Read: Full form of DNA