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Article: RNA
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA), like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), is a polymer made up of
nucleotides
. A nucleotide is composed of a pentose (5-carbon)
sugar, a nitrogen-containing base, and phosphate. The pentose sugar found in RNA nucleotides is ribose, whereas that in DNA is 2
′
(2-prime) deoxyribose. The bases commonly found in RNA nucleotides are adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and uracil (U). Bases found in DNA are A, G, C, and thymine (T instead of U). As in DNA, the individual nucleotides in the polymer are joined together by
phosphodiester
bonds. Unlike DNA, RNA is single-stranded; however, many RNA molecules fold into complex three-dimensional structures.
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