RNA

• Riibonucleic acid (RNA) is also a polymer

of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides
linked by phosphodiester bonds.
• However RNA differs from DNA .
• About 50% of cellular RNA is distributed in
the ribosomes and endoplasmic
reticulum, 25% in cytoplasm,15% in
mitochondria and the rest 10% in nucleus.
 Structure of RNA
• The units of RNA molecule is Nucleotides
• Nucleotide in RNA contains 3 parts:
1. a ribose sugar, with carbons numbered 1‘ through 5'.
2. A base is attached to the 1‘ position, in general, adenine (A),
cytosine (C),guanine(G), and uracil (U).
3. And a phosphate group
 Types of RNA
• There are 3 types of RNA.
• Messenger RNA- mRNA
• Transfer RNA- tRNA
• Ribosomal RNA- rRNA
 Messenger RNA
• It acts as a messenger of the information in the gene in
DNA to the protein synthesizing machinery in cytoplasm.
• It carries the message to be translated to a protein.
• The template strand of DNA is transcribed into a single
stranded mRNA.
• The mRNA is a complementary copy of the template
strand of the DNA
• Thymine is not present in RNA instead uracil will be
incorporated.
 Transfer RNA
• Transfer RNA transfer amino acids from cytoplasm to
ribosomal protein synthesizing machinery hence the
name transfer RNA.
• Since they are easily soluble, they arealso referred to as
soluble RNA or sRNA.
• They are RNA molecules present in the cytoplasm.
• Each molecule is only 73-93 nucleotides in length; much
shorter than mRNA molecules.
• When transcribed, the tRNA molecules are large and they
undergo post-transcriptional modifications.
 Ribosomal RNA
• Ribosomes provide necessary infrastructure for the
mRNA, tRNA and amino acids to interact with each
other for the translation process. Thus ribosomal
assembly is the protein synthesizing machinery.
• Nucleolus is the area where rRNA is synthesized
• and ribosomal assembly is produced.
• RibosomalRNA has catalytic activity.
 Transcription process
• Copying of DNA’s message to mRNA.
• Occurs in the nucleus.
• Pre-mRNA is processed into mRNA and then leaves the
nucleus for the cytoplasm.
• It occurs in three steps:
1. Initiation
2. Elongation
3. Termination
 Intiation of transcription
• RNA polymerase binds to DNA at promoter region.
 Elongation of transcription
• Adds nucleotides to mRNA strand based on DNA strand
in a 5’-3’ direction.
Termination of transcription
• RNA polymerase falls off the DNA strand when the
termination sequence is reached.
• AAUAAA in eukaryotes, this is now pre-mRNA
 Translation process
Translation is a cytoplasmic process.
The mRNA is translated from 5' to 3'end.
The process of translation can be conveniently divided into the
phases of:
A. activation of amino acid
B. initiation
C. elongation
D. termination and
E. post-translational processing
Protein Synthesis
 Protein targetting
• Zellweger syndrome is due to defective oxidation of
very long chain fatty acids .Accumulation of VLCFA in
CNS causes neurological impairment and death in
childhood.
• Another example is primary hyperoxaluria,which
cause kidney stones at an early age. The defect is due
to protein targetting.
• Some forms of familial hypercholesterolemia are due
to deficient transport signals.
• Inclusion cell disease is due to non-entry of normal
enzymes into lysosomes.
 Antisense therapy
• The mRNA contains a message or “sense” to be
translated into protein. When antisense oligonucleotide
is added, it will trap the mRNA and so protein
biosynthesis can be stopped. This is called antisense
strategy.