Difference Between DNA & RNA

Difference between DNA & RNA

We all know that DNA carries hereditary characters from parents to their offspring.  Right! While there is another biological component which is called RNA. This RNA not only plays a role in carrying hereditary character from parents to their offspring but also in the protein synthesis. Now the question is what is the difference between DNA and RNA?  

Here I have discussed five main differences between DNA and RNA. They are as following –

§  Structural difference

§  Stability

§  Thymine and Uracil presence

§  Mutation

§  Protein synthesis

Difference between DNA & RNA

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid whereas RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. DNA is a double-stranded structure whereas RNA is generally single stranded structure.

So the picture given below shows the structure of DNA. If we go deeper inside we will observe a long polynucleotide chain. If we see clearly then we’ll observe that a monomer, a single structure is repeating itself (shown in the figure below). This single monomer is of DNA, let us discuss more DNA CHEMICAL STRUCTURE.

Given above is the chemical structure of DNA, if we compare it to RNA both are having a phosphate group, a pentose sugar and a nitrogenous base (adenine, thymine only in DNA, guanine, cytosine, uracil only in RNA). The difference between the two is the presence of 2’-OH group in RNA whereas the same is absent in DNA.

Stability

2’-OH group is a reactive group which dissociates into o-

and H+. This makes RNA reactive and hence RNA is less stable than DNA.

In DNA, ADENINE a nitrogenous base forms two hydrogen bonds with THYMINE, a nitrogenous base from the opposite strand and vice versa. On the other hand in RNA ADENINE form two hydrogen bonds with URACIL, this nitrogenous base is not present in DNA. So, in other words, DNA has THYMINE and RNA has URACIL.

Mutation

RNA mutate at a faster rate as compared to DNA due to the presence of 2’ –OH group which is a reactive group. 2’ –OH group dissociates into o- and H+ in which o- reacts with other molecules which lead to mutation.

Protein synthesis

Protein synthesising machinery, which involves transcription (coding of DNA strand – mRNA formation) and translation (mRNA to protein) evolved around RNA. So RNA can directly code its protein whereas DNA depends on RNA for the synthesis of protein.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DNA AND RNA

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