A few ways actually..remember that the monomers (ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides) which make up RNA and DNA are made up of 3 main groups 1) a sugar (ribose) 2) a nitrogenous base (Adenosine, Thymine, Uracil, Guanine, or Cytosine) 3) and a phosphate group. In RNA, the ribose contains a hydroxyl (-OH) group bonded to its 2nd carbon. DNA does not contain this -OH group on the 2nd ribose carbon, instead it has just a hydrogen, hence its name DEOXYribonucelic acid. Another difference between RNA and DNA, is that RNA contains the base uracil, rather than the nitrogenous base thymine like in DNA, that makes hydrogen bonds with adenosine. Lastly, RNA is most often found single stranded instead of being double stranded and bonded to an antiparallel strand as in DNA.
To sum up the differences, RNA differs from DNA by:
1) Containing a hydroxyl (-OH) group on the 2nd carbon of its ribose*
2) Having uracil as a nitrogenous base instead of thymine
3) Being single stranded
*RNA is less stable than DNA due to this -OH group as it is more likely to interact with other chemical compounds!
Lastly, there are 3 major types of RNA you've probably heard about...rRNA, mRNA, and tRNA.
rRNA refers to ribosomal RNA and makes up the 2 subunits ribosomes are made out of
mRNA refers to messenger RNA which is made during transcription then translated into proteins
tRNA refers to transfer RNA which is responsible for associating specific amino acids to a specific codon found within an mRNA sequence
Is this a DEOXYRIBONUCLEOTIDE or a RIBONUCLEOTIDE?
