What is RNA?

All modern life on Earth uses three different types of biological molecules that each serve critical functions in the cell. read more

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the RNA that carries information from DNA to the ribosome, the sites of protein synthesis (translation) in the cell. The coding sequence of the mRNA determines the amino acid sequence in the protein that is produced. read more

Transfer RNA (tRNA) is an RNA molecule that assists in protein synthesis. Its unique shape contains an amino acid attachment site on one end of the molecule and an anticodon region on the opposite end of the amino acid attachment site. read more

RNA–in this role–is the “DNA photocopy” of the cell. When the cell needs to produce a certain protein, it activates the protein’s gene–the portion of DNA that codes for that protein–and produces multiple copies of that piece of DNA in the form of messenger RNA, or mRNA. read more