In order to better understand what Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is, it is first important to know what is happening inside an organism’s cell.
Inside every living cell, the actual process of creating new proteins undergoes several different steps and the instructions for these steps are contained in the nucleus of the cells. However, the proteins themselves are synthesized outside the nucleus, in an area known as the cytoplasm. This means that the cells must have a way to relay the information contained in the nucleus towards the cytoplasm. As it turns out, cells utilize a special molecule known as the messenger RNA to transcribe the genetic code found inside the nucleus.
RNA is very similar to DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, which contains the vital genetic information of the cell. RNA, when compared to DNA, has only a single strand and has a ribose sugar instead of the deoxyribose sugar. Furthermore, the base of the RNA is Uracil instead of Thymine which is found in DNA. RNA is produced by the RNA polymerase enzyme. This enzyme is responsible for RNA synthesis.
Whenever new proteins are needed by the cell, it sends a chemical signal to the nucleus which causes a gene for that protein to be 'switched on'. When this happens, the DNA codes are copied to the messenger RNA in the process known as genetic transcription. After the codes have been copied, the messenger RNA carries the information to the ribosome which is responsible for the protein synthesis. The messenger RNA then releases the codes to the transfer RNA which eventually translates the codes in the right order inside the ribosome.
Once the code is being translated in the ribosome and the required protein is synthesized, a mechanism known as RNA interference takes place, turning off the gene so it doesn't send more messenger RNA to the ribosome.
