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First teaching 2023

First exams 2025

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The Structure of RNA (CIE AS Biology)

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RNA Structure

  • Like DNA, the nucleic acid RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a polynucleotide – it is made up of many nucleotides linked together in a long chain
  • Like DNA, RNA nucleotides contain the nitrogenous bases adenine (A), guanine (G) and cytosine (C)
  • Unlike DNA, RNA nucleotides never contain the nitrogenous base thymine (T) – in place of this they contain the nitrogenous base uracil (U)
  • Unlike DNA, RNA nucleotides contain the pentose sugar ribose (instead of deoxyribose)

comparison-between-RNA-nucleotide-and-DNA-nucleotide-diagram

An RNA nucleotide compared with a DNA nucleotide

  • Unlike DNA, RNA molecules are only made up of one polynucleotide strand (they are single-stranded)
  • Each RNA polynucleotide strand is made up of alternating ribose sugars and phosphate groups linked together, with the nitrogenous bases of each nucleotide projecting out sideways from the single-stranded RNA molecule
  • The sugar-phosphate bonds (between different nucleotides in the same strand) are covalent bonds known as phosphodiester bonds
    • These bonds form what is known as the sugar-phosphate backbone of the RNA polynucleotide strand
    • The phosphodiester bonds link the 5-carbon of one ribose sugar molecule to the phosphate group from the same nucleotide, which is itself linked by another phosphodiester bond to the 3-carbon of the ribose sugar molecule of the next nucleotide in the strand
  • An example of an RNA molecule is messenger RNA (mRNA), which is the transcript copy of a gene that encodes a specific polypeptide. Two other examples are transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

mRNA Structure Diagram

mRNA-as-an-example-of-RNA structure-diagram

Messenger RNA (mRNA) provides a good example of the structure of RNA

Examiner Tip

You need to know the difference between DNA and RNA molecules (bases, number of strands, pentose sugar present).

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Marlene

Author: Marlene

Expertise: Biology

Marlene graduated from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in 2002 with a degree in Biodiversity and Ecology. After completing a PGCE (Postgraduate certificate in education) in 2003 she taught high school Biology for over 10 years at various schools across South Africa before returning to Stellenbosch University in 2014 to obtain an Honours degree in Biological Sciences. With over 16 years of teaching experience, of which the past 3 years were spent teaching IGCSE and A level Biology, Marlene is passionate about Biology and making it more approachable to her students.