Is single-stranded: Characterizes especially RNA
Single-stranded or single-stranded defines a nucleic acid molecule (DNA or RNA) that is unmatched to another complementary molecule. It is therefore a single strand of nucleic acid.
Messenger RNA is single-stranded because it consists of a single strand and is not paired with another complementary nucleic acid strand. Nucleic acids paired with a complementary strand, such as genomic DNA, are called double-stranded because they are composed of two strands.
The presence of single-stranded DNA is a key to classifying DNA viruses. The first single-stranded DNA virus identified was a phage. The single-stranded nature of its genome made it possible to study the replication of DNA and to carry out the first sequencing experiments.
Contains nitrogenous bases: concern both of DNA and RNA.
Nitrogen bases, or nucleobases or even nucleobases, are nitrogenous organic compounds present in nucleic acids in the form of nucleotides in which they are linked to an ose, ribose in the case of RNA and deoxyribose in the case of DNA.
Contains uracil: concerns especially RNA.
Uracil (usually called "U") is a nucleic base (pyrimidine base) specific for RNA. It is found in this nucleic acid as nucleoside with uridine and nucleotide with uridine monophosphate or uridylate. While in DNA, adenine pairs with thymine (denoted "T"), it is uracil that binds to adenine in RNA by two hydrogen bonds.
Some authors hypothesize that the spontaneous deamination of cytosine in uracil, easily detectable in DNA (where U is not normally present) by the cell repair machinery of mutations, would explain the use of the base T in DNA. RNA (especially mRNA), a molecule regularly renewed in the cell, does not see its sequence controlled by repair systems, hence a conservation of the base U in this molecule. In this hypothesis, the base U is thus ancestral, the base T derived.
Contains adenine: concern both of DNA and RNA.
Adenine is an essential compound in the living. We find this molecule everywhere in the body, alone or arranged to several other different molecules, thus playing several roles. It is found in nucleotide form: in DNA it is dAMP for deoxyadenosine monophosphate or deoxyadenylate, and in RNA the AMP for adenosine monophosphate or adenylate, as well as in nucleoside form with deoxyadenosine and adenosine.
Is double-stranded: concern especially DNA.
A double-stranded double strand (db) is a molecule of D-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or a molecule of double-stranded D-ribonucleic acid (RNA).
Double-stranded trait is a classification element of some DNA viruses.
It is not impossible to find double-stranded RNA (although it is rare).
Double-stranded RNA is an RNA composed of two complementary strands, in the manner of double-stranded DNA.
There are intracellular or extracellular double-stranded RNAs. Extra-cellular double-stranded RNAs are the genome of some viruses. For others of RNA (+) type, the replicase makes it possible to obtain a double-stranded RNA (tobacco mosaic virus) and thus to multiply. In eukaryotes, this type of RNA organization is involved in the initiation of the RNA interference process. Intracellular double-stranded RNAs are the essential components of the small subunit of the ribosome and therefore exist in a very large intracellular concentration. A high extracellular concentration of double-stranded RNA is synonymous with infection with a virus.
Is made of nucleotides: concern both of DNA and RNA.
Nucleic acids are macromolecules, that is, relatively large, relatively complex molecules. They enter the family of biomolecules since they are of great importance in the realm of life, "bios" meaning life in Greek.
Nucleic acids are polymers whose base unit, or monomer, is the nucleotide. These nucleotides are linked by phosphodiester bonds.
Pairing of adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine in DNA. The hydrogen bonds are blue dotted.
Contains deoxyribose sugar: concern DNA only (hence its name deoxyribonucleic acid).
Deoxyribose, or more precisely 2-deoxyribose, is a deoxyazugar derived from a monosaccharide of five carbon atoms (pentose, of empirical formula C5H10O4), derived from ribose by loss of an oxygen atom at the 2 'hydroxyl, and therefore, it does not respond to the general formula of monosaccharides (CH2O) n. It is part of the DNA.
It is a crystalline and colorless solid, quite soluble in water. In its furanosa form (pentagonal ring) it is part of the nucleotides that constitute the chains of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).