Question

What is an RNA?

Answer 1

RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. RNA molecules are single stranded nucleic acids composed of nucleotides. Nucleotides of RNA contain three components:

• A Nitrogenous Base
• A Five-Carbon Sugar
• A Phosphate Group

RNA nitrogenous bases include adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and uracil (U). The five-carbon (pentose) sugar in RNA is ribose.
RNA plays a major role in protein synthesis as it is involved in the transcription,decoding and translation of the genetic code to produce proteins.

The most common RNA types are mRNA ( messenger RNA), tRNA (transfer RNA) and rRNA ( ribosomal RNA).