Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)

RNA is similar to DNA. If DNA were a zipper, then RNA is only one side of the zipper. Both DNA and RNA are long molecules made up of smaller molecules – a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base. RNA’s purpose is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins. Those proteins determine the expressed characteristics of the living thing to which it belongs.