Chemistry of RNA

CHEMISTRY OF RNA

  • RNA is built from 4 kinds of nucleotides.They contain the 4 nitrogenous bases, 2 purines (Adenine and Guanine) and 2 pyrimidines (Cytosine and Uracil).
  • A purine or pyrimidine with a ribose molecule attached to it is called as Nucleoside.
  • Attachment of phosphates to the sugar of a nucleoside makes a nucleotide.
  • The 4 nucleotides of the R NA are adenylic acid, guanylic acid, cytidilic acid and urydilic acid.
  • A nucleotide is also sometimes called as nucleoside monophosphate that is, adenosine monophosphate (AMP), guanosine monophosphate (GMP), cytidine monophosphate (CMP) and uridine monophosphate (UMP ).
  • In summary,
    • Purine or pyrimidine + ribose = nucleoside
    • Nucleoside + PO4 = nucleotide (nucleoside monophosphate)
  • Or specifically,
    • Adenine + ribose = adenosine
    • Adenosine + PO4 = adenylic acid (adenosine monophosphate or AMP)
Last modified: Wednesday, 23 March 2011, 6:15 AM