What is the difference between DNA and RNA?

So, to start with what's the same, they are both molecules that are made from a nitrogenous base (Check understanding of term) and a sugar phosphate backbone. Now onto differences, DNA gets its name because the sugar in that back bone is deoxyribose as opposed to ribose which is found in RNA, this is important because it lets enzymes distinguish between the building blocks of DNA and RNA. DNA is a double stranded molecule in which four bases are found Adenine, Thymine, Cystine and guanine, whereas RNA will consist of the bases Adenine, Uracil, Cystine and Guanine and will be single stranded.The other important aspect to remember is that they have different functions. DNA comes in one flavour, it is found in the cell nucleus and is basically the blue print for the cell. RNA however, is found in many different parts of the cell carrying out different functions. Messenger RNA is like a short snippet of DNA that is carried out of the cell, Ribosomal RNA forms part of the ribosome to read the mRNA strand and transfer RNA brings amino acids to the ribosome as part of translation. Does that make sense?

Answered by Rob P. Biology tutor

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