RNA Structure | A-level Biology | OCR, AQA, Edexcel

RNA Structure in a Snap! Unlock the full A-level Biology course at http://bit.ly/2TQp6Bf created by Adam Tildesley, Biology expert at SnapRevise and graduate of Cambridge University.

SnapRevise is the UK’s leading A-level and GCSE revision & exam preparation resource offering comprehensive video courses created by A* Oxbridge tutors. Our courses are designed around the OCR, AQA, SNAB, Edexcel B, WJEC, CIE and IAL exam boards, concisely covering all the important concepts required by each specification. In addition to all the content videos, our courses include hundreds of exam question videos, where we show you how to tackle questions and walk you through step by step how to score full marks.

Sign up today and together, let’s make A-level Biology a walk in the park!

The key points covered of this video include:

1. RNA
2. The Structure of RNA
3. Comparing DNA to RNA

RNA

As well as DNA, another important nucleic acid is ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA has different but equally key roles in organisms: RNA acts as a messenger molecule - it helps transfer information from DNA to proteins, RNA also has roles in the regulation and synthesis of proteins, Like DNA, RNA is also a polynucleotide - it is a polymer made up of nucleotide monomers

Structure of RNA

Unlike DNA, RNA is composed of only one polynucleotide chain - it is single-stranded. RNA polynucleotide chains are also shorter than DNA chains. RNA nucleotides also differ from DNA in molecular structure: The pentose sugar in RNA is ribose, The nitrogen-containing organic bases are guanine (G), adenine (A), cytosine (C) and uracil (U), Guanine and adenine are purine bases (two-carbon rings), Cytosine and uracil are pyrimidine bases (one-carbon ring).

Comparing DNA to RNA

The differences between RNA and DNA can be summarised in a table.

Summary

RNA is a short, single-stranded nucleic acid
RNA nucleotides contain the pentose sugar ribose
RNA nucleotides contain the organic bases guanine, adenine, cytosine and uracil