Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
RNA is susceptible to this base-catalyzed hydrolysis because the ribose sugar in RNA has a hydroxyl group at the 2’ position. [1] This feature makes RNA chemically unstable compared to DNA, which does not have this 2’ -OH group and thus is not susceptible to base-catalyzed hydrolysis. [1] Mechanism of base catalyzed RNA hydrolysis.
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are nucleic acids.
Antisense oligonucleotides can be used to target a specific, complementary (coding or non-coding) RNA. If binding takes place this hybrid can be degraded by the enzyme RNase H. [12] RNase H is an enzyme that hydrolyzes RNA, and when used in an antisense oligonucleotide application results in 80-95% down-regulation of mRNA expression. [6]
The RNA that results from RNA splicing is a sequence of exons. The reason why introns are not considered untranslated regions is that the introns are spliced out in the process of RNA splicing. The introns are not included in the mature mRNA molecule that will undergo translation and are thus considered non-protein-coding RNA.
This is due to the fact that the coding strand is single-stranded during transcription, which is chemically more unstable than double-stranded DNA. During elongation of transcription, supercoiling can occur behind an elongating RNA polymerase, leading to single-stranded breaks.
RNA can also act as a hereditary molecule, which encouraged Walter Gilbert to propose that in the distant past, the cell used RNA as both the genetic material and the structural and catalytic molecule rather than dividing these functions between DNA and protein as they are today; this hypothesis is known as the "RNA world hypothesis" of the ...
This definition includes genes that do not encode proteins (not all transcripts are messenger RNA). The definition normally excludes regions of the genome that control transcription but are not themselves transcribed. We will encounter some exceptions to our definition of a gene - surprisingly, there is no definition that is entirely satisfactory.
The structural hierarchy in RNA is usually described in terms of a stem-loop 2D secondary structure, which further folds to form its 3D tertiary structure, stabilized by what are referred to as long range tertiary contacts. Most often the non-canonical base pairs are involved in those tertiary contacts or extra-stem base pairs.