In this article we will discuss about the introduction and stability of mRNA. Introduction to Messenger RNA (mRNA): The existence of messenger RNA (mRNA) playing the intermediate role of RNA in protein synthesis was postulated by Jacob and Monod in 1961. Before that RNA in ribosomes was thought to perform the function of mRNA. The prevailing notion was, one gene [...]
In this article we will discuss about the structure of RNA. The RNA is usually single stranded except some viruses such as TMV, yellow mosaic virus, influenza virus, foot and mouth disease virus, reovirus, wound tumour virus, etc. which have dsRNA. The single strand of the RNA is folded either at certain regions or entirely to form hairpin-shaped structure. In [...]
The mRNAs found in prokaryotes differ from that of eukaryotes in the following ways: (i) The prokaryotic mRNAs are broken down by the ribonuclease into ribonucleotide, hence these are very short lived e.g. 2 minutes in E.coli. The short lived nature is due to changes in environmental conditions. In contrast the eukaryotic mRNAs have longer life i.e. they are metabolically [...]