1. it is a single stranded molecule
2. has the sugar ribose in the nucleotides ( not deoxyribose)
3. it contains the base uracil (U0 in place of thymine

it has more functions

ex: making proteins

• carries the code for making a protein
• the template that will be further read in translation

• complex with proteins to form ribosomes

-responsible for synthesizing all of the proteins in the cell by reading mRNAs

- composed of large and small subunits that sit on the mRNA like a sandwich

carry amino acids to the ribosome

• one end carries the anticodon

• transcription- in the nucleus
• translation- cytoplasm

1. unzip DNA
2. utilizes a single stranded template
3. polymerizes to make new RNA

1. the promoter- where RNA polymerase binds
2. start- codon
3. actual coding sequence
4. stop codon- termination signal that stops transcription

1. Initiation
2. Elongation
3. Termination

1. attachment of the RNA polymerase to the promoter
2. Opening of the DNA strands
3. Start of RNA synthesis

1. the RNA polymerase base pairs RNA nucleotides to complimentary template DNA and polymerizes forming phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides
2. moves in the downstream direction

• Once the RNA polymerase reaches the terminator sequence, transcription halts, the RNA polymerase disassociates, and the DNA strands re-anneal

1. poly a tail
2. the 5' cap

1. provide a mechanism for gene evolution
2. Alternative splicing

- just because an intron is present does not mean it gets spliced out

not all get spliced out in the same order

- So, the cell has roughly 3x the number of proteins as it has genes to code for them thanks to alternative splicing